Federal Agent Knight in Shinning Armor
by Katie'sMomma
Summary: Romance with G. Callen and O/C who has some secrets of her own.
1. Breathe

**Federal Agent Knight in Shinning Armor**

I don't own this. I do this for fun. Don't sue we're already broke!

* * *

"_But my god it's so beautiful when the boy smiles" _From the song Breathe (2am) by Anna Nalick

* * *

G. Callen sat at the bar and was surprised that it took this long for his partner and friend to find him.

"I'll have a beer," Sam said sitting down next to him.

"Why are you following me?" He asked.

"My Wife is getting offended," Sam Hanna said taking the mug.

"About what?" He continued watching her on stage, she sounded great tonight.

"This is the fourth time in two weeks you have turned down her cooking. She's beginning to wonder what is going on,"

"Nothing is going on," He drank his beer and watched her sing.

"Really? So you want to have fried food for dinner?" He asked.

"I'm not here for the food Sam,"

"Prove it,"

"I am," he finally looked at him, "Now shut up and listen to her,"

Sam looked at the stage and saw a beautiful woman in a black dress singing. Her red hair was curled and twisted up in the back. He listened to a voice that mesmerized his closest friend and realized that she was a good reason to make excuses to not come over to the house for dinner. His wife would be thrilled.

* * *

Sarah got done with the song and smiled. She looked relieved when she looked at Callen.

"Wow. She's got a great set of pipes on her" Sam said.

"Yep"

"What's her name?"

"Sarah," Callen smiled.

"You talk to her yet?" he asked.

"Nope,"

"Let's change that" Sam tried to get the bartenders attention.

"She doesn't drink beer yet," G said simply.

"What?"

"She drinks water first and in about a half an hour she then drinks a half pint of Harp ale,"

Sam laughed, "Oh you got it bad,"

"Yeah. I do," He admitted.

* * *

She sat there trying to stop herself from shaking. She had to do what she just sang about. She had to breathe. But for some reason she couldn't. The guy with blue eyes was here again this time he sat at the bar. She was glad he was there. She had be having this bad vibe all day like something was going to happen to her or go wrong. Seeing him there somehow made her feel safe.  
"Here you go Kiddo," Sue said breaking her out of her thoughts.  
"Thanks" she tried not to chug the water down.  
"You did great Sarah" April said.  
"Thanks,"  
"You have a fan," She glanced over at the bar.  
"Yeah?"  
"He totally has a thing for you."  
"Yeah right," She tried not to show April that she was interested. If she knew April would do something stupid.  
"Sar, I'm serious. When you were singing I swear the look he was giving you..." She smiled a wicked smile.  
"Oh please!"  
"You better give him your number," April demanded.  
"You know I'm not like that," Sarah said simply.  
"and that is why you haven't had a date since?" April teased.  
Sarah glared at her but she did have a point "Bite me!" She joked.  
"I won't." She said, looked over at the bar, and then back to Sarah,"But I'm pretty sure he would if you let him,"  
Sarah laughed. "I have to get going,"

"Sarah, it's still early" April pouted.

"Yeah and I have a student who wants an eight o'clock voice lesson," she wrote something down

"Really?"

"Yeah," She felt bad lying to April but she started getting a bad vibe again and she knew that was her signal to get out of there.

"Okay. Are we still on for lunch on Friday?"

"Sure," She gave April a hug.

"Hey Sue, can you do me a favor?" Sarah asked.

"Sure hon what's up?"

Sarah handed her a piece of paper, "Could you give this to the guy at the end of the bar? The one with the blue eyes."

"Really," Sue asked.

"Yeah,"

"About time," Sue smiled. "Goodnight kiddo," She walked away.

* * *

"For you". Sue put the piece of paper on the bar.  
Callen picked it up and read it.  
"_555-0014 Sarah_"  
"Hey. You got a number" Sam said.  
"Yeah. I got a number."

He watched her walk past him. She smiled and walked out the door.

"G please do me a favor and call her," Sam begged. He was looking forward to giving his wife this report when he got home.

"I think I will," Callen said getting out money for the beer.

"Well my mission here is over. I have to get going it's my turn to get the kids to bed,"

"I'll go out with you,"

* * *

She walked to her car and smiled thinking about what she did. She had never been the one who would just give her phone number to a stranger. But for some reason this guy was different. As she got out her keys she heard someone running up behind her. She shifted over to get out their way and felt her purse tugging off her shoulder.

"What?"

"Give me the purse now Bitch!"


	2. Always a Woman to me

Sorry this took so long to get out. Chapter 3 should be out soon (I hope).

Thanks to:

Lostforeverinhiseyes

For the reviews and favorites.

For my friend who did Star Wars Fanfiction with me years (and years and years) ago. Thanks for not being surprised when I said "I have writers block" but was surprised when I said "And it's not Star Wars so you have to start watching NCIS LA!"

Again I don't own. I do this for fun. We're broke so don't sue (Unless you want to pay for my kids college fund!).

"Oh she takes of herself she can wait if she wants she's ahead of her time, Oh and she never gives out and she never gives in she just changes her mind" She's Always a Woman By Billy Joel

"No!" She struggled with him. He grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall. She kicked him and he cursed. She still struggled and he slapped her face. She could see someone in the corner of her eye. She took her keys and hit him in the chest. He bent over and she kicked him away from her. She leaned up against the wall and tried to catch her breath.  
"Federal Agents! Hands up NOW!" Sam yelled at him.  
"Agents?" She said looking at Sam and then saw G.  
"Sarah" Callen ran to her.  
"Wait. Your Sarah?" Sam asked.  
"Yeah" He said "Are you okay?" He asked she grabbed his arm.

"Yeah." Her head was spinning and she was shaking.  
She heard his friend yelling at the robber about picking on someone his own size.  
"G. Is she okay?" Sam asked.

"I think so."  
"I never...did get your name" she said feeling her knees begin the buckle.  
"Callen"  
She smiled "Callen" and then passed out in his arms.  
"Son of a-"

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She slowly opened her eyes and found herself on a gurney.  
"Sir. She's waking up" The paramedic said.  
"You okay?" Callen asked her  
"What happened?"  
"You fainted."  
"Ma'am you do remember what happened before that?" The policeman asked.

"I was walking to my car. Someone tried to steal my purse. I fought him and" She looked at Callen "You're federal agent?" She asked him.

"Yeah."

"Do you recognize this person?" Sam asked showing her a picture.

"Yes that's him." She sat up.

"There she identified him" He said to the officer.

"We need her statement"

"You'll get that tomorrow" G. argued.

"We need the statement tonight. We don't want her to forget anything"

"I won't forget this believe me." She said as Sam helped her stand up.

"We're the witnesses you will get it tomorrow." G argued.

"I'll call Deeks" Sam walked away.

"Callen, it's okay" She touched his arm.

"I think you should listen to your girlfriend" The officer said.

"What about my purse?" she asked.

"You'll get that in a couple of weeks. It's evidence"

"So what happens if I get pulled over by the LAPD? Will they take that as an excuse?"

"Ma'am" She could tell that the three of them were getting on his last nerve. "It's policy."

"Here" Sam handed the officer his phone.

"What's this?"

"Marty Deeks LAPD liaison for us. Talk to him" The officer took the phone and walked away.

Sam looked at her watching Callen who was talking to the paramedic. There was hope for them yet.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. He looks worried"

"You scared the crap out of him when you fainted. He doesn't scare easily."

"Okay fine." The officer said walking back glaring at Sam. "Wallet, phone, and keys."

"Thank you."

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"I got this. You take care of her" Sam told G.

"You're going to get in trouble"

He checked his watch. Going on two hours late. "I'm blaming you."

"You always do"

"You bring her over for dinner and I'm pretty sure you'll be forgiven"

Sam gave Sarah her phone and wallet. "Don't scare us like that again" Sam smiled at her.  
"I won't and thanks"

"Hey you kicked his ass we just arrested him."

"I'll walk you to your car."

They walked past the police car and she looked at the guy sitting in the backseat.

He saw the look on her face "Sarah?"

"I'm okay. I just don't think I'll be walking alone at night for a long time"

"He cannot hurt you anymore." He held her hand.

"I know."

His phone rang "I have to get this hang on."  
"Yes Eric "

He took a couple of steps away from her. She could tell by the way he looked back at her that there was something wrong. _'Please don't have him find out'_ She prayed.

"Okay keep me updated" he said.

"Everything okay?" She asked.  
"We ran a background check on this guy."  
"I can't go home can I?"  
"I don't think you should and I really don't think you should be alone"  
"Okay. I'll figure something out."  
"I know a place"  
"really?"  
"I promise I'll be a perfect gentleman"

"okay"

"Whoa" he caught her before her legs gave out on her again.

"Okay that does it." He picked her up and carried her.

"I can walk." she protested.

"No you can't."

"Callen."

"When was the last time someone rescued you?" He asked her.

The question took her off guard."What?"

"When was the last time someone rescued _you_?" He asked her again.

She thought about it. "It's been a long time."

"Let me rescue you...even if you did kick his ass."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "If this happens when I give you my phone number. What's going to happen if we go on a date?" She asked.

"Don't know. Do you want to find out tomorrow?"

"Sure."

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He unlocked the door to the boatshed and she walked in.

"Do you live here?" she asked.

He went over to the refrigerator and got out a couple of beers. "No"

"Work stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks," She took the beer.

They sat at the table and talked about what happened. He wrote down some notes for her statement.

She got up to throw the bottle away. She walked up to him "I never did thank you."

"For what?"

"For rescuing me." She kissed him on the cheek. She looked at him and wondered if he felt the same spark that she just felt. He kissed her and felt her body slowly melt as the kiss deepened. His arms wrapped around her waist pulling her closer. He heard a soft moan come from her as she put her arm around his neck. His hand slid down to her hip and his phone started ringing.  
He groaned and broke off the kiss. "I can toss that out the window if you want me to." He whispered in her ear.  
She bit her bottom lip. "It's very tempting. But you should get it" She forced herself to tell him.

He slowly let her go and grabbed his phone. "Yes Eric" He went outside.

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"So what is going on with Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked walking into the ops room.

"We witnessed a woman's purse being stolen last night." Sam said looking at the information.

"Okay."

"He called and asked me to do a background check and I found this." Eric pulled reports and medical records.

"Jessica was the latest one. Happened last week. I just got a call that died this morning,"

"What is this woman's name?"

"Her name is Sarah Jane Burgess. She teaches music at the local college"

"Where is she now?" Hetty asked.

"Callen has her at the boat house" Eric said.

"Mr Hanna. Y_ou_ and _I_ are going to the boat house together and if _ANYONE_ calls to tell Mr. Callen that we are on the way you will be suspended for a week!" She walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" Kensi asked.

"I don't know." Deeks said.

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She woke up to her phone ringing. It took her a couple of seconds to figure out where she was. She got up and grabbed her phone off the counter. "Hello?" She tried to sound awake.  
"Sar? Are you okay?" Her assistant asked.  
"I'm fine" She looked at the time and realized that she forgot to call her. "I'm going to take a couple of days off before the craziness starts" She smiled when she saw G walk in.  
"Just treat them like your kids. Use your Mom voice. Hell that scares me half the time. You'll be fine and I should be back on Monday okay? Bye"

He handed her a cup of coffee "Morning"  
"Morning."

"My 'unofficial' assistant. She's one of my students and does this to keep her sane. This is the first time I'm leaving her in charge."

"I emailed your statement to LAPD."

"Have you been up all night?"

"I don't sleep much."

"What's wrong?"

"He's fighting the charges and has a lawyer. He'll be stopping by this afternoon to talk to you."

"okay."

"It also seems that he maybe able to get out depending on if the judge grants him bail. I'm sorry Sarah. We'll get this worked out I promise"

"Hey it's okay. We'll just have to figure out where I will need to go"

"To a safe house" a voice said.

He looked to see Hetty and Sam in the doorway. "Hetty."

She looked at them together. "Perhaps you should introduce us." she walked in.

"Sarah-"

"Not you Mr. Callen. I was talking to Miss Burgess."

"G. Callen...this is Hetty Lange. My Godmother."


	3. Flashback

I don't own, We're broke, don't sue  
Thanks again for reading

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_  
"So far away from where you are. These miles have torn us world's apart. And I miss you.  
Yeah, I miss you. So far away from where you are. I'm standing underneath the stars  
And I wish you were here."_ From the song "From Where you are" By Lifehouse

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_Flashback: __May 1984__  
_  
_  
Hetty woke up to the phone ringing and picked it up on the first ring "This better be important." She said looking at the clock.  
"We have a problem." the voice said.  
"What."  
He told her what happened and she felt her heart stop. "Shit." she sighed. "When?"  
"Three hours ago." He said.  
"Are you sure?" She asked.  
"We have three credible witnesses and now working on dental records. Should know by the end of the day When do you want us to come over?" He asked.  
"You're not coming over." She tried not to raise her voice she didn't want her to wake up.  
"But it's policy that we inform the next of kin." He argued.  
"And you call me on the phone. No you are NOT coming over."  
"Agent Lange-"  
She sat up in the bed. "You are not coming over and if I see anyone from your group around this house I will shoot you on sight understand."  
"But-"  
"Do. You. Understand!"  
There was a long silence before she heard "Yes ma'am"  
"Good" and she slammed the phone. "Dammit" she hissed.  
"Everything alright?" The voice said. Hetty quickly tried to compose herself before she turned to see Sarah standing in the doorway.  
"Everything is fine. Go back to bed Sarah."  
"You're mad."  
"I'm okay. Just work stuff. How about we go see that new Molly Ringwald movie and go shopping in the morning." Now Sarah knew something was wrong but didn't react. "Sounds good Hetty." She went back to her room, walked up to the window and looked at the stars. "I don't believe her Mom. Please have him be okay." But knew in her heart that he wasn't. _

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	4. Chapter 3

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I don't own. We're broke. Don't sue.  
The only thing I do is Sarah.

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Thanks for all the reviews and favorites. Sorry this has taken long to post. Summer, kids, vacation and writers block happened.

There is a flashback in this chapter.

Special thanks to Anthrdumblond for input, editing and keeping me sane (or making me believe I was sane ;-) ).

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Chapter 3

He stood there looking at both of them."Your Godmother." He said slowly trying to process it.

"Yes" She could feel the redness flush her face.

He looked at Hetty. "You're her Godmother?" He asked making sure that he heard her right.

"Yes." Hetty said.

Everything started to click. "Are you an agent?" The details that he didn't even notice when she told him what happened. The look of shock when she found out he was an agent. He just thought it was because of being attacked. Then he remembered her the look she had when he was on the phone with Eric. She was scared and she had the same look now.

"No. I'm a teacher. What I have told you is the truth." Sarah said.

Hetty walked closer to them. "She is telling the truth Mr. Callen. But she was an agent at one time."

Sarah looked at her "Hetty."

She looked at Sarah "Could have been one of the best." She said with pride.

"_Hetty!_" Sarah hissed.

Hetty walked over to Callen handed him a file and went over to the screen. "But that is a story for another time. Now we have a problem Sarah."

"What is this?" She looked at the screen. Pictures of women were up on the screen with the picture of the man who attacked her the night before "You are very lucky Sarah."

"He told me that this guy had a record." she started getting a bad vibe about this.

Hetty continued looking at the screen "Yes he has a record and is the suspect of doing this to three other women. The one who was attacked before you died this morning."

Her face went white as a sheet. "He...he" She looked at him.

Callen took her hand "I did not hear about that. I would have told you if I did." He told her.

Hetty looked at them together remembering seeing the same look over forty years ago and knew this could be a problem. "So." she said to bring them back to reality "We'll need to get you back on active agent status."

"What?"

"Hetty are you sure about this?" Callen asked.

She walked over to Hetty "No. I can't we agreed-"

"We agreed that you could go on reserve status but if there was a case that you were needed on you would come back." She was not going to let this opportunity get away from her to have Sarah back.

"I can't. I was the one who was the victim." Knowing that reason wouldn't fly with Hetty at all.

"You're going to be on this case Sarah." She said.

Fighting wouldn't work. Begging wouldn't work. Trying to reason with Hetty Lange wouldn't work because she had done that all before and she knew it would be useless to try again. Sarah sighed. "Fine." She walked out.

G. stood there wondering if he should go after her or try and talk some sense in to Hetty.

Sam watched Sarah walk past her. "I'll keep an eye on her G."

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Sam found her on the other side of the boat shed sitting in one of the chairs looking out at the water. He sat next to her and didn't say a word. He knew from experience never to try and talk to a woman who was pissed until she was ready.

"How long did she threaten the suspension for?" She finally said.

"What?" He asked. How in the world did she know that Hetty threatened everyone with suspension if they called G?

She tried to be calm. "You are his partner and friend. You would have called or had someone at the office to let him know that she was on the way. She threatened suspension didn't she?" She said.

"Yes she did."

"How long?" She asked again.

"A week."

She laughed. "She's pissed."

He looked at her "She didn't show it."

"It's Hetty. She never does. I stayed with her the first summer after my Dad died. I was fourteen. She grounded me for a month the first day I was there. I was trying to sneak out of the house. She was there when I got out of the tree shinning a flashlight in my face." She smiled at the memory. "She didn't yell. She just looked at me and said '_If you are going to try and sneak out of my house you should do it without stomping around like an elephant young lady_' and then made me go up the tree back to my room."

"So what did she have you do?" He asked.

"She taught me how to sneak out of the house and then other things. When I got back to DC she got a very angry call from my Grandfather. I found out a couple of years ago that it wasn't me 'stomping around like an elephant' like she said. It was the neighbors dog that gave me away." she looked at him. "I always hated that dog."

"So she trained you?" He asked.

"Mostly. There was also my Godfather and other friends of my Dad's. It almost became a game between them and I was a quick learner."

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They stood there in silence watching the video that Eric just sent of in the bar of Sarah singing. "Are you sure about this?" Callen asked.

"I wasn't lying when I said that she could have been one of the best Mr. Callen." There was something different about this performance. Full emotion and didn't care if anyone saw it. It was easy for Sarah to perform after being an agent because she treated it like another alias. "_But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles_" She wondered how he would react if he knew that Sarah picked this because that lyric reminded her of him.

"What happened? Why did she go on reserve status?" He asked.

"Mission gone bad, betrayal, I still don't know all of it and she will not talk to me about. She went even as far as making sure I didn't know what happened by going above my supervisor and making sure I never got to see it. Told them it was a 'conflict of interest'. When she got back, gave her report, turned in her badge and walked out. Anything that involves her goes through me and I take care of it. I was always hoping she would return. Now it's ten years later."

"We can always have Kensi do it." He suggested.

The second video of the attack came on. She watched as Sarah walked to the parking lot thinking about something else was taken by surprise as the man grabbed her purse. "She's rusty but I'm sure she can do it. There's more to this than we are getting. There is something going on here. The three other women look similar to her. I'm just glad that you and Mr. Hanna were there." She would have never forgiven herself if something happened.

"His lawyer wants to charge her with assault. Says he was trying to help her and she started it." Callen told her still not believing the guts this guy had when he was told that.

"I'll take care of that." Hetty said trying not to react to Sarah fainting in Callen's arms, the look of shock on his face, and the way he just held her.

"Okay I'll get started on this." he went over to get Sarah's phone.

"Have her go through all the tests don't have them go easy on her. She should be treated like everyone else. I bet that she'll be able to point out every agent you have at the restaurant when you take her out to dinner tonight" she smiled.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know about that"

"I've seen the look she gave you when you told her you didn't know about the woman who died...a long time ago. Trust your instinct. Protect her, find out why they did this and we'll be happy."

"We?" Wondering who else Sarah knew.

Hetty smiled "Just read her file Mr. Callen." and walked out.

He opened the folder and skimmed it and then saw the name that caught his eye 'Guardian: _Henrietta Lang _Emergency contact: _Leroy Jethro Gibbs_'

"Great"

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_**May 5, 2009**_

_Sarah stood on the boardwalk watching the water thankful for not having to work until afternoon. _

"_Hey Red." the voice said behind her. _

_She turned to see Gibbs and smiled "Hey! You look good" She hugged him._

"_You look great. How are you?" He looked relieved to see her but there was still some tension._

"_Stressed. Opening night in three days for the Opera/Musical scenes." She handed him his coffee._

"_They'll do great. They have an awesome teacher." He sat down on the bench. _

_She sat down next to him "Well I'm worried about something I cannot control. My lead is pregnant and her morning sickness is at night. I really don't need Christine to get sick on The Phantom." She took a sip of her drink._

_Gibbs laughed. "It will go great. You work best under stress"_

"_And coffee you taught me that. How long are you in town?" She asked hoping he would be here to see the performance and talk with Hetty._

"_Don't know. Depends on how business goes." His expression then showed it all. There was something more than just this case going on._

"_You're here on business?" She asked._

_He nodded._

"_That's why you're stressed." She could always read him like a book_

_He looked at the cup. "I have to deal with someone who I don't get along with. I'm trying to be" he searched for the word "Nice."_

_She smiled. "Just breathe and count to ten" which is what he told her when she was an agent. _

"_I've already done that several times." He took a sip of the coffee._

"_So that's why I got a text from you this morning to meet here and to bring coffee." She put the cup down._

"_No I wanted to see you. But I do have to meet someone at ten" He checked his watch._

"_Well I'm glad I can help you out." She said knowing that she couldn't push him about it. Never mix business and personal lives...that was her rule._

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"How is she?" Callen asked Sam when he walked in.

"She's okay. You know she stayed with Hetty when she was a kid. Seems Hetty has taught her almost everything she knows." Sam took put a bag that Hetty brought for Sarah on the couch.

"Hetty wants her on the case" he continued looking at her file.

"How do you feel about that?" Sam asked already knowing how he felt. He was going to use the 'don't date if they have handcuffs' rule.

"Don't know." He handed the file to Sam. Sam saw Gibbs name on it and he smiled. "Well I think she'll do fine." he said. "Oh and before I forget you both are invited to dinner at the house on Saturday night" He said

Callen looked at him "Dinner?"

"Yeah...she wants to meet her." Sam said smiling.

"Sam."

He was not going to let him get out of this now. "_She_ wants to meet her." He repeated.

He knew he wouldn't be able to get out of this one when _she_ wanted them there "Fine. We'll be there."

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Sarah walked in and saw him watching the video. She took her cup that was in the kitchen area, walked up next to him and watched the video. She immediately started seeing all the things she did wrong and annoyed at herself for being so hard on herself. She hated watching herself on video because then she could see all the mistakes she did while others couldn't.

He saw her reaction to the video out of the corner of his eye. "How are you?"

"It's been an interesting twelve hours" She said wondering why in the world she just didn't let the damn purse go.

"Yeah"

"Karma is a bitch. Only I would have the luck of having my Godmother be your boss." Sarah looking at the file.

"It doesn't surprise me. Nothing about Hetty surprises me anymore" Callen said thinking about the last six months.

She looked at him wondering what he meant about that. "I didn't ask you what alphabet agency you worked for because I wanted to know you. So if I go back to agent status it's going to be to find out who is doing this. Once it's over I'm back to teaching. I just need to know that you-"

He pulled her to him and kissed her just to shut her up. She tensed up in shock of him kissing her and then felt her relax.

He broke off the kiss making her want more. "Don't worry. We'll we find out why Sarah I promise." Callen touched her cheek.

"Okay" was the only thing she could say looking in to his eyes. She never saw eyes that blue before.

"Dinner tonight?" he asked slowly letting her go but still having his hand on her back.

"Sure." trying to get out from under the spell he had her in. What the hell was it about this guy who could make her weak in the knees from him just looking at her?

"Sam and Hetty went to the office she wants us there in about an hour or so. There are some clothes for you over on the couch. They are already working on getting you into a safe-house. Besides work and your assistant did you tell anyone else you were taking days off?" He asked.

"No."

"Do you trust your assistant not to say anything?"

"She knows something is up. I never take time off when we start blocking for a show. She won't say anything." She told him.

"Good." He handed her phone to her "I put my number and the teams in your phone. Only take calls from them no one else"

She laughed "Okay"

"What?" Callen asked.

"You do know that you just went into agent mode on me." She said

"Sorry." Callen smiled.

"It's okay." she kissed him on the cheek "It's cute. I'll go get ready."

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	5. Chapter 4

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Again don't own. Sarah is mine.

Thanks to Anthrdumblond for your help.

Thanks also for all reviews and favorites!

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Chapter 4

_May 1984_

_Hetty Lange stood by the car watching Sarah sitting at the grave site still holding the flag in her hands. _

_"She's going to be there all day if you let her." Mike Franks said pacing back and forth._

_She looked at him then looked at the time. They needed to get her to the house or Sarah's Aunt was going to form a search party for her. "Go get her Franks. Just be easy on her okay." She said._

_He tossed his cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his foot. "So picking her up, throwing her over my shoulder, and bringing back here kicking and screaming is not an option?"_

_She glared at him and smiled slightly because she could see him actually doing that. Any other time she would have let him just to hear Sarah laugh. She longed to hear their Goddaughter laugh now. "No. Be nice!" She watched him walk over to the grave site and sit down next to her._

_She noticed that there was a couple still over by their car. It was the Marine who presented the flag to Sarah at the service. Hetty knew that he was the one that Bill took his place for the mission. She kept an eye on him during the service. There were several times where his wife put her hand on his shoulder. Hetty walked over to the couple and looked at the young Marine. "He took your place didn't he?" she asked him._

_The guilt on his face said it all "Yes Ma'am."_

_She touched his arm "It's okay. He would have done it for anyone in his group." She said looking at his pregnant wife._

_"He's been feeling guilty since he got the news." The woman said._

_Hetty smiled. She knew why Bill decided to take his place. Because he wanted to make sure that this young Marine was there when his child was born. Too many times he had friends who went off to war or even on a training exercise and they never came back. "The thing about Bill is he wouldn't want you to. He would want you to be there for your child."_

_"But she..." he looked at Sarah still sitting there with a man. _

"_How long have you known him?" Hetty asked._

"_Three years now."_

_"Did he ask you to keep an eye on her if anything happened to him before he left?" She asked._

_He looked at her shocked. "Yes Ma'am."_

_She smiled. Bill had that vibe where he could tell that there was something about a person. He knew that there was something about him that would have him keep his promise no matter what. "Keep that promise." _

_She handed his wife an address "We'll be at this address. You can talk to Sarah there." She walked away and then turned around "Oh call me Hetty." She said._

_"Shannon and Leroy Jethro Gibbs" His wife said_.

Hetty walked into her office, got on the phone, and dialed a number. "Gibbs...We need to talk." she said.

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Callen and Sarah walked into the building about an hour later. She placed the bag on the chair and looked over at Hetty "I'll be back in a minute." Sarah walked over to Hetty's desk.

"She alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Callen said going over to get some tea.

"Okay, where is she?" Deeks said walking in to the bullpen.

"Who?" Sam asked knowing what he meant.

"Sarah?" Deeks said.

"Talking to Hetty" Callen said sitting down.

Deeks looked over at Hetty's office saw her. She stood there writing things down on a pad of paper. "No really." Deeks said thinking that this whole thing was a joke. He heard that Callen and Sam helped out a woman whose purse was almost stolen but she kicked the guys ass. This woman did not fit what he was picturing.

"Really". Callen said coming back to his desk.

"Okay I haven't seen the video yet but with everyone talking about her around this place I was expecting someone like Batgirl" Deeks said.

"Batgirl?" A voice said behind him.

He turned around to see her standing there. "Sorry Wonder Woman is already taken" Deeks looked at her. Cute. There was something familiar about her.

"Cool" she smiled. "Nice to know I'm being thought of as one of my heroes" She said sitting down.

"Don't tell me you're a librarian also?" He said sitting on the edge of the desk and flirted with her.

"No. I'm a music teacher over at the college. I teacher voice lessons and I'm in charge of the musical/opera class."

"Sarah This is Marty Deeks, our LAPD Liaison." Sam introduced them.

"The one who talked to the officer last night."

"Yes"

"Thanks" she said.

He smiled back at her. "Welcome to the zoo Batgirl." Deeks walked away.

"Full schedule today so I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah" He said smiling.

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She walked over to the office and saw Nate reading her file and writing down notes. She didn't want to talk to a head shrinker but Hetty told her that it was required for the mission and since she had her purse stolen it would help since she was the victim. Sarah saw it as another thing for Hetty to check on her.

She knocked on the door "Nate?"

"Yeah" Nate he said trying to rearrange files.

"Sarah"

"Yeah. Sorry I just got your file. Come in sit down." Nate moved some of the files off the couch

"Thanks" She said.

"How are you?" Nate asked

"Been an interesting night." Sarah said.

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Callen waited until Sarah walked out of sight for him to talk to Nate

"How is she?" He asked.

"I cannot discuss what we have talked about." Nate said

"Okay as the senior agent-"

"Callen" He knew this was going to be a problem.

Callen went over and shut the door. He sat down on the couch. "Is she okay to do this that is all I'm asking" Callen said.

"Yes." Nate said.

"Are you sure?" Callen asked.

"Yes" Nate assured him.

"That's all I need to know." Callen got up.

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She went though all the tests. Barely had time for lunch before Hetty had her do another test. She knew that the schedule was going to be rough and she also knew that in Hetty's twisted mind she did the schedule on purpose to keep both Sarah and Callen away from each other for most of the day.

She got done with the self defense which was harder than she thought it would be. Being grabbed from behind had flashbacks of what happened the night before. She walked over to the bullpen and saw the note by a new purse "Dinner. 6pm. Callen" she smiled, got her Ipod, headphones, notebook and walked out the door.

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Callen sat in the break room with Nate waiting for the others to come over for their report.

Sam walked in first "So?" Callen asked.

"Damn good with a gun" Sam handing the file over to him.

"Really?" Callen opened it and saw the scores.

"Right and left handed" Sam said.

"Well Hetty did train her" Callen saw Deeks and Kensi walk in.

"How did she do with self defense Deeks?" Callen asked.

"She's good." He groaned sitting in the chair.

Kensi laughed.

"She needs some work but she did good. Kicked Deeks ass" Sam tried to not laugh.

"Only because Kensi distracted me." Deeks said feeling betrayed.

Kensi glared at him "I did not."

"You _rooted_ for her!" Deeks said.

"Because there is another female in the boys club. What I don't understand is why didn't she do that last night?" Kensi asked.

"People react to things differently. When she stopped being an agent she did not look back. She's a teacher and that life that she had as an Agent is over. Also she didn't expect this to happen. I hear people say all the time that if they were in that situation that they would fight but you know what when they do get into that situation they are so stunned they cannot believe that it's happening to them." Nate said.

"But she still trains." Callen said.

"You can take girl out of the agency but you can't take the agency out of the girl." Kensi said.

"Also do you really think Hetty would have her stop if she put her on reserve status?" Sam asked Callen.

"Why did she leave?" Deeks asked.

"Hetty said a mission went bad." Callen he opened Sarah's file again to see if he missed it.

"Is it in her file?" Kensi asked.

"Got sealed. Even Hetty doesn't know. Went above Hetty's supervisor telling them that it was a conflict of interest" Callen said.

"That's not good." Nate said looking at her file again to see if there was anything from this morning that would of been a clue.

"Where is she now?" Callen asked.

"She said something about feeling like she was being watched." Sam said.

"Told her this place is like being in a zoo" Deeks said.

"Okay well we'll do the rest of the tests later." Callen got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked already knowing.

"I'm going to look for her." Callen told him.

"G let me" Kensi volunteered.

"Really?"

"I just got to see her for a minute this morning. I've been busy with the place that she'll be staying at." Kensi told him. She also wanted to find out who this woman was who got Callen so hooked.

"Okay."

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Sarah sat in the courtyard listening to the rehearsal recording that she had on her ipod and making notes.

"Hi. I'm Wonder Woman" Kensi said smiling.

"Batgirl" Sarah sat up on the bench.

"Nice to meet you. Hetty wanted me to give you this" it was a key to a locker.

"Thanks" Sarah she put it in her back pocket.

"You okay?" Kensi asked.

"I'm not used to being watched. I appreciate everyone making sure that I'm okay I just-"

"Need space?" Kensi understood.

"Yes. The last time I was watched this closely was when my Dad died." Sarah said.

Kensi looked at her and felt a connection to her already "When?"

"Fourteen" Sarah said.

"Fifteen for me." Kensi said.

"I lost my mom when I was eight. Dad basically moved heaven and earth to make sure he could be there for me."

"How did he die?" Kensi asked.

"He went on a mission in place of a friend whose wife was about to give birth."

"Wow. That must of been hard on both of you." Kensi said.

"It was. It is. A couple of weeks before Dad took him out to give him the 'your life isn't over because you're having a kid but it will change' speech. It also turned into a 'Anything happens keep an eye on my kid' speech." Sarah remembering years later about that conversation. After fighting and saying things they didn't mean he told her about the request. The guilt that he felt for surviving and her Father gone.

"Has he kept the promise?" Kensi asked.

She smiled. "Yes he has. Sometimes he gets too protective but Gibbs means well."

Kensi sat there stunned. "Gibbs. As in Leroy Jethro Gibbs"

"Yeah. He's like an older brother to me."

"Interesting. How did you meet Callen?" Kensi asked.

"Two days before Halloween I was with some friends for their anniversary over at Lonigan's Bar. I was dressed up as part tribal part gypsy belly dancer. A drunk cowboy thought it would be fun to make a move on me asked me to dance since 'Belly dancers are strippers' and wouldn't leave me alone."

"Callen saw what was going on and very discretely told the guy to go away. He has been there for the past two weeks. I finally got the courage to give him my number last night. Luckily he was there when..."  
"Sounds kind of romantic." Kensi  
"Yeah. It does. So how long have you been seeing Deeks?"

"I.."

"Are you not dating him?" She started to blush. "I'm sorry I deal with college kids most of the time I'm usually pretty good about this stuff."

Kensi sat down "How did you know?"

"I had a feeling he was texting his girlfriend most of the day and the way you distracted him when I had one of my tests confirmed it." Sarah said.

"It started about six months ago." Kensi said relieved that she was able to say that to someone.

"When Hetty went off grid."

Kensi sat there saying nothing.

"Are you happy?" Sarah asked.

"Extremely." Kensi smiled.

"Then that's all that matters." She told her. "Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise." She put the ipod away and packed up her notebook.

"I have to get ready. Dinner with Callen and probably more tests that Hetty has decided to have me do" She got up and picked up her purse.

"Sarah. G. has had some rough couple of months." She tried to find the words.

"I know Kensi." She smiled at her. "Don't worry." She said and walked back into the building.

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Sarah stood in front of the mirror of the locker room putting on her make up. "Up or down?" She asked not even looking but knew Hetty was there.

"You had it up last night?" Hetty came out from behind the lockers.

"Yes"

"Down." Hetty walked up to her.

Sarah went to the bag and pulled took out the clip with Celtic knot designs and went back to the mirror.

"You still have this" Hetty looked at it.

"Still my favorite. You bought it for me while we were in Dublin." Sarah remembered Hetty giving it to her.

"When you were sixteen." Hetty remembered looking for the perfect one for her.

"Little did I know you put in a tracking device in it." Sarah took out the mascara.

"Well I had to keep track of my agents."

"Is that why you put it in the box you sent?" Sarah said trying not to have her words sting.

Hetty kept quiet.

She looked at her. "Did you expect me to go after you six months ago?"

"You're still angry." Hetty said walking away.

"What I am angry about is you _knew _what you were going to do!" Sarah could feel the the emotions raging.

"Sarah Jane!" Hetty said raising her voice.

"No! I didn't get to tell you this in the hospital because I was only allowed to see you for ten minutes and that was undercover and Gibbs telling them to get lost." Sarah tried to remain calm.

They stood there in silence. Hetty sat down on the bench "Go ahead."

"We had a great dinner and talked about things I had not thought of in years. Two days later I call to tell you that Franks was murdered. You told me that you had a case that you couldn't get away from. Which I understand but to then send me a box and since I wasn't there to get it Vance had someone sent it to DC."

"Sarah" Hetty knew that this was hard on her.

"Those weeks were hell. Franks was murdered. Gibbs did not take it well. I stayed with him a couple of days longer just to make sure that he was okay. I'm about to leave and Gibbs gets me in Vance's office and asks me about the last time I see you. I then have a call from Director Vance, who is in Los Angeles, telling me that you resigned and in looking for where you went he found a box on my porch. The box that has 'In case of my death' packet and a note from you that says I'm sorry." Sarah remembered feeling her heart drop seeing the packet.

"And you wanted to find me." Hetty said quietly.

"I was willing to go back on agent status, call all of my contacts that I knew in Europe, and grab who ever I could find to go with me." She admitted.

"How did he get you to stay?" Hetty asked.

She sighed "Gibbs drugged my coffee."

"And that's why you drink tea now."

"That's why I make my _own_ drinks at the office now." Sarah stressed.

"I'm sorry Sarah. I know that you would take it hard. I sent the box because you are the only one I trust outside of NCIS and I knew that you would...take care of what needed to be done." Hetty put her hand on Sarah.

"Now for the real reason why you are here." Sarah said knowing that there was always another reason for Hetty.

Hetty got up said nothing.

"What did I fail?" Sarah asked.

"You need some work but nothing that you won't have within a couple of days."

"You're worried." Sarah said.

"I'm concerned" Hetty said truthfully.

"About me or him?" Sarah asked.

"Both. You both basically think you can be on your own without anyone and yet something happens when you're together" Hetty smiled.

"Hetty-"

"Callen has had a rough two years. I know that things have not been easy on him the past couple of months and I know I'm part to blame for that. But seeing him look at you like he did this morning. It's the first step to maybe trusting someone outside of this family that he has now and maybe to get you to trust also" Hetty took the clip and handed it to Sarah.

Sarah gathered her hair and opened the clip "You know a couple of days after Dad's funeral you started getting phone calls. You would tell me it was work and move on. There was one time where I heard you talking. Asking them 'How can you lose him he just got there?' and telling them that you couldn't chase after 'him' because you were taking care of me."

She put the clip in and walked over to the mirror "At first I thought it was my Dad. That he survived and just was in hiding. Then you said words like 'runway' and 'he's just a kid'."

Sarah turned around and looked at Hetty "Does Callen know that you had been watching him since he was a child?"

"He does now." Hetty admitted.

"Should I continue this relationship with Agent Callen after this is over?" she asked. '_Or even start now?_' She thought.

"If it were anyone else it would have been stopped at the boat-shed before you kissed him." she said. She saw Sarah blush even worse than she did this morning.

"I know your abilities in protecting yourself so I'm going to tell you no you do not need to stop the relationship with Agent Callen after this is over. _But_ I will tell you that you will need to be in agent mode for the rest of your life." Hetty said.

"I think I can do that" She smiled.

"Have fun. Tomorrow you both have work to do." Hetty smiled and walked out of the lockeroom.

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_May 1984_

_Sarah walked outside of the house and tried to breathe. She sat down on the porch swing and tried to block every one's voices out. She wished she had her walkman at least the music would help the world go away for awhile. She looked to see more guests were arriving. More people to give her the long sad look. The pity look. She hated the look. Especially when she never even met them before. But they knew her Dad._

_Sh_e _saw the car drive up. The man got out of the car and then helped his very pregnant wife out._

_"I'll be okay." She assured him and then then looked at Sarah smiled, "Go talk to her." and walked to the backyard where everyone was. He watched her leave and then walked over to the front of the house._

"_Hi." He said._

_Sarah looked at him. It was the man who handed her the flag at the service hours ago. "Hi."_

"_My name is Leroy Gibbs I worked with you Dad." He said walking up the stairs._

Her phone rang and got her out of the daydream that she was in. Sarah smiled at the caller ID name and answered it "Hello Gibbs."

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Sam sat at his desk and saw Callen walk into the bullpen. "You look nice."

"Thanks I got a date." Callen put on a jacket.

Sam got up and walked over to him "Yes I know." he smiled "Sit down." pulled the chair and made him sit down.

"What's going on?" Callen asked as Sam took the chair out of the bullpen with him in it.

"You're going out with Sarah tonight." Sam stood in front of him.

"Yes" he started getting a bad feeling when the guys came over.

Deeks stood next to Sam "Well, since she is the newest member of our Merry band of misfits we just want to give you some ground rules for taking out our little girl" Sam walked behind Callen.

"What?" Callen went to get up and Sam made him sit back down again.

"Open the door for her." Eric said.

"Do not order for her" Sam said.

"Take her to a place that is nice and not too expensive" Nate said.

"Pull out the chair for her to sit" Sam said.

"What if we're in a booth?" Callen asked interrupting Sam's train of thought.

Sam looked at him annoyed "Wait until she sits down."

"Ask her about her interests" Nate started back up again.

"And listen no matter _how _boring" Deeks stressed.

"Tell her she looks nice" Eric said.

"Boys boys boys! Stop it you're scaring him." Kensi said walking down the stairs.

"Thanks Kens" Callen relieved.

She stood in between Nate and Deeks "Treat her a lady" She smiled.

"Trader" He mumbled.

Sam walked over and stood by the others "Now when you take her home-"

"Enough!" Hetty said coming out of her office hearing the whole thing and wasn't going to let them have all the fun.

"I'm sure Mr. Callen knows how to treat a woman out on a date." She stood by him. She leaned over and whispered, "You do know...right?"

He looked at her. "Not you too!"

She smiled. "Mr callen, Miss Burgess is waiting outside."

"But-" Sam said almost pouting.

"I think we have all have some paper work to do or something." She said walking him to the door. "Here are the keys to the safe-house. The address is already sent to your phone, it's a new one. Nell is ready over at the restaurant and the others are in place." She put the keys in his hand.

"Okay" Callen said looking nervous.

"One more thing. Have fun" Hetty smiled.

"Thanks" Callen said and walked out the door.

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He walked out to see Sarah out by the car on the phone. She wore a dark purple silk blouse with black pants. Her hair was down and pulled back with a silver and leather clip. "I will tell him. Thanks. Love you too" She said and turned off her phone. She turned around and saw him there.

She took his breath away "You look great."

"Thanks" She put her phone in the purse.

She looked at him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah" He looked back at the door ."I just got the '_you're taking my sister out_' speech from the guys, Kensi and Hetty.

"Oh?" She smiled wishing she could of seen that.

"Seems you are now accepted into our Merry band of misfits."

She laughed "Good. I'm glad they approve."

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Thank you all for reading. I hope to have Ch 5 up soon. Thank you all for the favorites and please review.


	6. Flashback Off I Go

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_Have a lot of flashbacks and background about Sarah and decided to put some that are done (and I'm happy with) up so I won't be leaving you all for months at a time without a chapter. Hope you enjoy and as always I don't own NCISLA or their characters...I just own Sarah._

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_Loose ends, they tangle down and then take flight_  
_But never tie me down never tie me down_

_Off I go Where I fall is where I land_  
_Off I go Where I fall is where I land_

_Loose ends tangle down and then take flight_  
_But never tie us they never tie us down_

_Off I go Where I fall is where I land_  
_Off I go Where I fall is where I land_

"_Off I Go" By Greg Laswell_

_~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~_

_May 2011_

_Sarah stood at NCIS headquarters in Washington DC. The last couple of weeks had been a whirl wind of getting grades in, flying to Washington DC for her Godfather Mike Franks funeral and taking care of Gibbs. He would never admit it to her but he did need someone there._

_"I'm going to miss you!" Abby hugged her._

_"I'll miss you too Abbs. Take care of Gibbs" Sarah said._

_"Always. Oh and make sure you take a picture of the new tattoo you got after it heals" Abby said._

_"Tattoo?" Tony DiNozzo asked smiling._

_"Yes." _

_Tony got up and walked over to her "Can I-" _

_"NO!" Both the women said to him and then laughed._

_She hugged Tony "Be good"_

_"And if you can't be good" He said._

_"Be careful" she replied and smiled. She hugged him again "Seriously be careful" She whispered in his ear. He told her that he had a case but couldn't give her the details._

_"I will. I promise" He whispered back._

_"Drive you to the airport?" He offered._

_"No Gibbs is going to." She looked around for him._

_"Sarah that was Gibbs he's up in Director Vance's office he needs to talk to you alone." McGee told her hanging up the phone. _

"_Okay. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." She said. _

_Sarah walked up the stairs, stopped and looked at them._

_"Sar what's wrong?" DiNozzo asked not liking the look on her face. _

_"In the words of Han Solo...I have a bad feeling about this." and went upstairs._

_She walked in and closed the door and saw Director Vance was on video conference._

_"Gibbs what is wrong?" Sarah asked._

_"Please sit down" Gibbs told her._

_"What's going on?" she asked._

_"When was the last time you saw Hetty?" Vance asked her._

_"Two days before Mike was killed. Why?" Sarah she asked._

_"How did she seem?" Vance asked._

_"Fine." _

_"What did you to talk about?" Gibbs asked serious._

_"My parents, the summer that I spent with her after Dad died, my job, life...Why?" Sarah told them._

_"What was the reasoning on why she couldn't come to Franks funeral?" Vance asked._

_"She had something going on with a case and she couldn't get away. Why?" Sarah now getting frustrated._

_"I'm going to tell you this because of your relationship with Hetty. I know you are very close to her. But this does not go past this room do you understand?" Vance stressed to her._

_She looked at Gibbs and didn't like the vibe that she was feeling. "Gibbs?" _

_"Do you understand Sarah" Gibbs said knowing that she was not going to take this well._

_"Yes." She said._

_"Hetty went off grid two nights ago." Vance said._

_"She did what? Where did she go?" _

_"I cannot tell you that" Vance said._

_"But you can tell me that she went off grid!" _

_"The only reason why we are telling you that is because Gibbs thought it would be best just in case..." _

_"Just in case what? She gets herself killed?" Sarah asked._

_Gibbs touched her hand. "Sarah" _

_"So what do you need?" Sarah asked pissed now._

_"What makes you think I need something?" Vance asked her._

_"Because not only am I Hetty's Goddaughter I'm also in charge of her estate and an agent on reserve status. I still have some connections one of them who I just saw last year for three months in Ireland." _

_"She did not go and see Thomas." Vance said already talking to him hours before._

_"Shit!" _

_"You and I both know that he would try and talk her out of it." Vance said._

_"There is also the part of you being in charge of her estate. I had someone go over to your house and found this." Gibbs got out a box._

_"Okay." Sarah looked at the box addressed to her. No return address but she knew Hetty's handwriting right away._

_"Open it." Gibbs said handing her his knife._

_"You think I don't have that rule?" She said getting hers out of her back pocket. She opened the box to find pictures of her parents. Pictures of her and Hetty on their trips or just hanging out. The Celtic knot hair clip that she used and Hetty bought for her. There were keys and the deed to the cottage in Ireland. She saw a note that said 'I'm sorry' underneath the note was a large envelope that said 'In case of my death' she sat down and started crying._

"_What is it Gibbs?" Vance asked._  
_She heard Gibbs swear under his breath. "An In Case of my Death' Packet with a note on top that says I'm sorry."_

_"So what do we do now?" Sarah asked Gibbs._

_"You? Nothing." Vance said to her knowing that she was not going to accept that as an answer._

_"Are you insane?" Sarah stood up and glared at him._

_"You are no longer an agent Miss Burgess" Vance replied._

_She took out her badge out of her purse and tossed it on his desk. "Activate me."_

_Gibbs looked at her shocked. For all the years that she said that she was never coming back she actually took her badge with her on this trip._

_"Miss Burgess I don't have time for this." Vance was now getting frustrated._

_She looked at Gibbs "Activate my status." She was serious._

_"I can't and even if I could you really think I would do that? I'm having enough problems with her team having problem with her replacement" Vance said already regretting telling her._

"_Her replacement?" _

"_Hetty's choice!" _

_"Activate me I can take DiNozzo." Sarah said to Gibbs_

_"Agent Dinozzo is busy with another case"_

_"Then I'll take McGee or Ziva" Sarah said to Vance._

_"They are busy" Vance stressed again._

_She looked at Gibbs "Then you'll go with me."_

_"We are not going to activate you to agent status. you are going to stay there with Gibbs."Vance said._

_She laughed "You can't stop me."_

_Vance sighed in frustration "I have to deal with her lead agent who is even more stubborn than you!"_

_"I'll go with him." _

_"You don't know him" Gibbs said._

_"If he's that stubborn and cares about Hetty like she cares for him I'll go with him." _

_"You are staying here and that is final." Vance hung up._

_They sat there in silence. He could tell she was trying to figure out what to do. 'She may look like her mom but she's just as stubborn as her Dad!'_

_"I can call Thomas see if she contacted anyone else." Sarah finally said._

_"Sarah" Gibbs he was exhausted._

"_Jethro. We just lost Franks...I can't lose her!" Sarah she tried to hold back tears but knew that it wasn't going to work._

_"I Know." He got up and poured some coffee._

_"It's not fair." _

_He put his hand on her shoulder. "I know Red. Drink some coffee" _

_She got up took the coffee and started pacing back in forth "I should have known. We talked about things that I had not thought of in years." _

_"Really?" he said watching her._

_"Yeah." She stopped started to feel her head spinning. "I remember the day she told me I was an Agent. She was bursting at the seams with pride." The room was still spinning while she was walking._

_"I remember that. She called me." He said._

_"She's a great teacher." She said looking at him. He could tell that she knew what was going on and what he did. She kept on pacing "The best." she said. She felt like she was walking in slow motion._

_"Sarah?" Gibbs voice now sounding like it was under blankets._

_'Must keep moving. Can't stop have to keep...moving' she thought as her legs felt like there were weights on them._

_Gibbs stood up and watched her slowing down. "Sarah?" He said again._

_"Gibbs?" She said trying to fight her eyes to stay open and dropped the coffee._

_"Yeah?" Walking to her and grabbed her before she fell to the floor. She leaned up against him and then looked him straight in those blue eyes of his "I'll never forgive you for this." and passed out in his arms._

_"I know Red...I know." Gibbs said knowing that would be the last thing she would hear._

_He heard a knock on the door. "For the love of- What?" he said._

_The door opened and Tony peeked his head in "Boss just wanted to let you know" He saw her in Gibbs arms "What happened?" DiNozzo came in._

_"Close the door and help me." _

_"What's going on?" Tony asked._

_"She's fine." He handed her to Tony. "Just hold her okay."_

_"She's passed out!" _

_"Long story" Gibbs said knowing now that he would have to tell him what was going on. _

_His phone rang and he got it "Yeah. Gibbs"_

_"How are things?" Vance asked._

_"Just dandy Vance how about you?" He said looking at DiNozzo holding her._

_"She still there?" Vance asked._

_"Yeah. Had to use the coffee." Gibbs said walking away from Tony._

_"She's going to be pissed when she wakes up" Vance said not envying him when she did wake up._

_"Yeah I know." _

_"I would rather be there with her pissed than have to deal with Callen." Vance said._

_Gibbs thought about it out of the two she would be easier. "True."_

_"I'll keep you updated Gibbs. Hopefully this will be resolved and we'll have no problems at all." _

_Gibbs laughed "We are talking about Callen."_

_"Yeah I know." Vance said just about to walk into the LA office. "Oh and Gibbs remember to dump the coffee out of the pot before you accidentally drink it."_

_"Done." Gibbs said and hung up._

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Thanks for reading! Please review. I'm working on Chapter 5 as fast as I can. ;)


	7. Flashback Wanted Dead or Alive

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This was actually the first thing that I wrote with Sarah in the NCIS:LA universe. Sarah actually evolved from Barbara Gordan (Batgirl), then to her own character for Grey's Anatomy (who would have been with Finn), and finally ended up at the same bar where the NCIS:LA gang had their team building night. This is how I think Hetty got the idea to sing "Wanted Dead or Alive." Everyone will eventually see that Callen and Sarah's paths have crossed a couple of times without even knowing.

I do not own NCIS:LA. I only own Sarah.

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_It's all the same, only the names will change_

_Everyday it seems we're wasting away_

_Another place where the faces are so cold_

_I'd drive all night just to get back home_

"_Wanted Dead or Alive" By Bon Jovi_

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_Flashback: Night of "Past Lives"_

_Hetty walked in and saw her on the stage singing. She watched from the doorway letting everyone go in. She had seen Sarah sing many times before but this song was one she had not heard in a long time. "So kiss me and smile for me, tell me that you'll wait for me..." The last time Sarah sang that was at her father's funeral instead of reading the eulogy that her Aunt wrote for her._

_Sarah got off the stage and went to the bar. "I'll have a shot of Jameson." She saw Hetty walk up to the bar. "and cognac." She looked around the room and saw that Hetty's team were over on the other side of the room._

_Hetty walked up next to Sarah looking straight ahead. "You were wonderful." She said._

_"Thanks" She smiled._

_"Doesn't seem like they would have been married forty-four years ago." _

_"Yeah." Sarah thought about them all day. She was glad that she got a text from Hetty to meet her at the bar for a quick drink. _

_"You said you would never sing that again after he died." Hetty remembered the first time she heard Bill singing it to Sarah's Mom. He was about to leave for the war. Mary cried every time she heard the song on the radio. _

_"Well after the day I've had I decided to change my mind." She paid for the drinks._

_"I'm glad you did." Hetty told her. "He would have wanted you too."_

_She smiled and drank the shot. She felt the liquid warm and then burn down her throat. "How in the world could he drink this stuff?" She asked coughing._

_"Very quickly" Hetty replied._

_For the first time that day Sarah laughed. She glanced back and saw out of the corner of her eye someone watching her. "We're being watched."_

_Hetty looked and saw Callen watching the bar. She turned back around and smiled. "A member of my team. Do you want to meet him?"_

_She smiled and shook her head "You know my rule about that."_

"_You're just as bad with Gibbs with your rules."_

"_It works." She stressed._

_"What song do you suggest?"_

_She had been singing there for a couple of years and basically knew the book. "Number 626."_

_"Would I know it?"_

_She smiled not wanting to ruin the surprise. "Played it constantly when I was with you for two weeks back in 1987."_

_"Here you go Sarah." The bartender gave her back the credit card._

_"Thanks." She saw the man get up and give Sarah a strange look. He started walking over to the bar. "I wish I could see you sing it but see my cue to leave. I'll distract him." She slowly moved the drink over to Hetty. "The drink is for you. Knock them dead."_

_Hetty just sat there and wanted to see how they would react to each other "Goodbye dear."_

_She got up and walked right into him purse falling to the floor. "Oh! I am so sorry." She said._

_"It's okay." He said. _

_"I''m just so clumsy." She said._

_"It's fine. Here." He handed her purse to her._

_"Thanks." She smiled and walked away._

"_Yes Mr. Callen?" Hetty said watching him._

"_Do you know her?" He asked._

"_Know who?" She asked._

"_Her?" He looked to see that she was already gone. "Never mind" He said._


	8. Chapter 5 Flashback Chapter

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Decided to make Chapter 5 into a storyline of flashbacks that I've been working on (thanks for the advice from Anthrdumblond). This is after "Lange, H." The main two people who are having these flashbacks are Sarah and Deeks. There is something that happens in Romania that Deeks will eventually remember in the next couple of chapters.

Chapter 6 will be up (hopefully) in the next week or so. That chapter has been a thorn in my side and as soon as it is done the other chapters that have been waiting for MONTHS to be done will be good to go.

Special thanks to Anthrdumblond and Keviana for reading, opinions, and the music advice.

Thanks again for the favorites and reviews. Please keep them coming it lets me know that it is being read.

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These miles have torn us worlds apart

And I miss you, yeah I miss you

And I wish you were here

"From where you are" By Lifehouse

Today I lost a friend of mine

I never even got to say goodbye

I thought we had time to burn

But life is short

You only get one turn

"Don't Wait" By Addison Road

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_Flashback: After "Lang, H." (after the Flashback "Off I go")_

_Sarah woke up with her head throbbing. She groaned "Damn Gibbs what was in that coffee." She asked looking around the room. They were in a hotel room A man sat in a chair not too far away from her reading a newspaper. _

_"Classified." The man said._

_"Where am I?" She asked she sat up._

_"Classified." He said again._

_"Who the hell are you?" She asked._

_The man folded the newspaper and smiled._

_"Fornell. I should of known." She got up and walked away from him._

_"And a hello to you too Sarah."_

_"He roped you into this?" She looked to see if there was anyway to get the hell out of there._

_He put the paper down and watched her. Gibbs said that she would be like an animal who was stuck in a cage. "No. He asked."_

_"So where is the other Boppsey twin?" She asked seeing that the place only had one door out and a window. She opened the curtain and saw that was boarded up. Gibbs took no chances. She didn't blame him he knew her abilities and she still trained. Only because of Hetty not slacking off. Hetty. The pain of remembering what happened. 'Get it together Burgess' she told herself._

_Fornell got up and walked over to the table and opened up the containers. "Had some business to do. Should be back soon. Breakfast?"_

_She looked at him "You have some first and maybe I will."_

_"Don't you trust me?" He asked with a slight grin that he knew that he could get away with her. He liked the fact that she didn't take crap from anyone. She was also his daughter Emily's favorite babysitter which drove Diane nuts and anything that drove Diane nuts made him happy. But the whole situation with Hetty just made him worried. If anything happened to Hetty they wouldn't have to worry about Callen and the team they would have to be worried about her._

_She laughed. "I trusted him look where that got me."_

_"Sarah. He did have a reason. He wanted to keep you safe-"_

_"Oh don't try talking to her about that Tobias you'll just get another ulcer." Gibbs walked in with coffee and a grocery sack. He locked the door behind him._

_"Where in the hell am I?" She glared at him._

_"D.C." He tossed his keys on the table and put the grocery sack down. "Sit down Red." She stood there still glaring "I got some news from Vance now sit the hell down." He glared right back._

_"Okay." She backed off and sat on the bed._

_He told her about her team. How they took the news and that they found her. After telling them that they could not go they turned in their badges and walked away. They were now on their own and they found her._

_He sat next to her and took her hand "Hetty was shot."_

_She bit the inside of her cheek trying to not break down in front of them "And?"_

_"She'll be okay."_

_"Okay." She sighed in relief. "What the hell was she doing?"_

_Gibbs got up and opened up the grocery bag "She was working on one of her cases."_

_"It must be one hell of a case. So what do we do now?"_

_"Go to the bathroom and use this." He tossed her a box._

_She looked at the box "Hair color?"_

_"Yeah. I have a plan." Someone knocked at the door. "We'll have plenty of time to talk about it on the way there to see her." Gibbs opened the door to see McGee there with two backpacks._

_"Where are we going?" Sarah asked._

_He handed Sarah her badge. "România."_

_~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~_

_Sarah walked down the hospital hallway. She tried to stop grinning but she couldn't. Hetty was alive. She got on the elevator and another woman followed her in. The door closed and it started going down. The woman slammed the stop button and glared at Sarah._

_"Who the hell are you?" She said._

"_Excuse me?" Sarah said._

"_You are not a nurse at this hospital." The woman said._

"_What are you talking about?" Sarah asked._

"_Why did you see Hetty?" She asked glaring at her._

_Must be a member of the team. She didn't remember seeing her before. "Miss Lange is a patient here and that is none of your business. Sarah went to push the button and she was slammed up against the wall._

_Her hand around Sarah's neck "You think I'm an idiot? You are not a nurse!" The woman said._

_Sarah kneed her in the stomach hard and broke free. "Look lady I have no idea who the hell you think you are but you have the wrong person!" She went to hit the button._

_The woman took a swing at her and Sarah put the metal file up to block it._

_Sarah kicked her and made the woman fall to the floor. Sarah stood over her. "I don't know who you think you are but I can and will get you banned from this hospital if you touch me again." She glared at her. The anger and hurt from the past three weeks. Emotions flooding. This woman had no right to tell her what she could and could not do when it comes to Hetty. She pushed the button and the elevator moved._

_The woman stood up "You have no right to see her." She said._

"_Again you have me mistaken for someone else." Sarah said picking up the file straightening her scrubs._

_"Really? Are you sure about that Sarah?" She said looking straight ahead._

_This time Sarah hit the stop button. "Who the hell are you?" Sarah asked._

_"The one Hetty trained first."_

_"Right. Should have known you would show up again someday Lauren."_

_"You have no right to see her."_

_"I have every right to see her! I'm her Goddaughter"_

_"No Sarah. You quit." She said. The truth was out. Because of what happened to Sarah and trying to leave the agency this crazy bitch thought all ties to Hetty were now gone. "That gives you the right to try and beat the crap of me in an elevator?" She asked._

_"Only time I could get you alone without him protecting you." She said._

"_I don't need protection."_

_"Really? Have you told Hetty what happened on your last mission Sarah? How you got the agent assigned with you killed? How she almost took the fall for you and resigned?"_

_Sarah slapped her in the face._

_She smiled. "I hit a nerve."_

_This time it was Sarah who slammed her up against the wall. "You have no right to talk or even know about that! You have no idea what hell I went through there. You have no idea how much I lost that day!" She felt the emotions flooding. Emotions that she hid so deep for years she knew that she would not be able to control._

"_I do. But Hetty doesn't. I wonder what she would say if she knew."_

"_Shut up" She said quietly._

"_She doesn't know that you were pregnant did she Sarah?" She asked with a smile. _

"_Shut up!" She repeated._

"_She doesn't know that Agent Sullivan was the father. She doesn't know it was your mistake that got him killed!" She kept her voice even and smiled wider._

_Sarah hit her. They now just started grabbing, pulling, pushing, kicking, anything that they could. They didn't notice that they elevator started moving or that it finally stopped on the first floor. _

_The doors opened. "Whoa!" Someone said._

"_What the-" Gibbs dropped his coffee. The man grabbed Lauren and Gibbs grabbed Sarah. They pulled them apart from each other. "Red you have to stop this they are going to find out!" He whispered in her ear. _

"_I don't care." She said still hitting Lauren._

_Gibbs shut the doors and pressed a button to get them away from the growing audience. He pressed the button and stopped them._

_~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~_

_Deeks walked over to the hospital. The week he had was becoming a blur. (They left, got Hetty, got her to the US base in Romania and now have to wait for her to recover.) But the most important thing was she was alive. Over the past year Hetty was the only one that he had an attachment to. She was the first one who actually gave him a chance and she believed in him when others didn't. What he told Vance was true. If he could have turned in his badge to go with Callen and the others to get Hetty he would have. Maybe he should sign and turn in the application for NCIS._

_Then there was another important thing that happened to him in the past couple of days. Kensi. In a strange twist of fate they were now together. They didn't mean for it to happen. Everyone probably knew that it was going to happen. But the night after knowing that Hetty was going to be okay and after calling Vance to let him know what was going on Kensi asked him to go to the bar in the hotel. One too many shots of tequila and they both woke up in his room the next morning. He was willing to let her use the "we were drunk/we could have died" card but she didn't. After she got done guarding Hetty's door at the hospital she went to his room._

_Now it wasn't even dawn yet and Kensi was still in bed at the hotel. Why in the hell did he leave her there? Oh he remembered now because he's an idiot and volunteered guard Hetty's door. But he had to he didn't want Sam or Callen to find out._

_He walked up to the elevator and pressed the button._

_"Deeks right?" The man said next to him drinking coffee._

"_Yes. Gibbs?"_

_He smiled. "Right." He looked at his watch and knew that Sarah should be getting out of Hetty's room about now. "How is Callen?"_

"_Okay I guess. Never can tell with him."_

"_True."_

"_What is going on with this elevator?" Gibbs said looking up at the floor lights blinking. The elevator started to move again and as it got closer they heard screams and banging on the walls._

"_That is not good." Deeks said._

_"No it's not." Gibbs said praying that it was not Sarah in there._

_The doors open and they saw Lauren Hunter fighting with a nurse._

_Deeks looked at Lauren in shock "Whoa!" This fight from different from what Kensi would do. This fight was like a you-took-my-boyfriend-you-bitch fight with scratching, pulling hair, and kicking._

_Gibbs dropped his coffee and went right to the nurse. Deeks saw him whisper in her ear._

_"I don't care!" the nurse said kicking and elbowed Gibbs in the chest. Gibbs leaned back and tried to catch his breath._

_Hunter was the same "I swear I will-"_

_Gibbs pressed a button and got the elevator doors to close. He pressed the button for the fourth floor._

"_Hunter! Come on." Deeks finally was able to pull her up and get her away from the nurse. The woman was freakishly strong. _

_Lauren started speaking in different language and the nurse seemed to know what she was talking about because she glared at Lauren but she didn't respond._

_"Enough!" Gibbs said. "Agent Hunter! You will go with him and stay there while I make sure this nurse is okay. " The doors opened and Deeks helped her get up. They both walked out of the elevator._

_"Oh and this better not get to Little Mother or the others. Understand Agent Hunter?"_

_"Yes sir" She said and then glared at the nurse in the elevator as the doors closed._

_~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~_

_Deeks took Lauren by the arm and walked down the hallway. He found an empty room and closed the door behind them "What the hell Lauren?"_

_"Long story. Not going to talk about it." She wiped her mouth and found blood on her fingers._

_Deeks grabbed a paper towel and handed it to her. "I don't want to know."_

"_What do I have to do to make you not say anything?" She asked while he looked in the cabinets and got out and ice pack._

_He turned to her and smiled._

"_I don't think so Deeks." Lauren said trying to sound polite and already knowing that he was probably in a relationship with Kensi._

_He tried not to laugh. "Don't flatter yourself cupcake." He knew that it was probably not a good thing to call his boss that but right now he didn't care. _

_She looked at him in shock. "Cupcake?"_

"_Looks like I have all the cards now. You want to know what to do? Do what Gibbs says."_

"_And?" She asked._

"_I'll think of the other one later." Looks like he would be able to get that parking spot after all._

"_Fine." She took the icepack from him and walked out the door._

_~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~_


	9. Chapter 6

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I don't own NCIS:LA. I own Sarah. Don't sue.

Flashback in the beginning of the chapter.

Thanks again for everyone reading, reviewing, and favorite alerts. Please keep them coming!

Special Thanks to Anthrdumblond for telling me that I was over thinking this chapter way too much and KevianaElliot for her help of "The Rules".

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

_Flashback: May 5, 2009_

_Sarah stood there in front of her student "Stan, remember you are the Phantom. You must take command of the performance and be mysterious, not look scared to death because a pregnant woman may throw up on you."_

_"But-"_

_She put her hands on his shoulders like a coach would do for a player. "You can do this. Right here, you're Stan computer geek, on stage you're the Phantom; dark, mysterious, the one who made Christine fall in love with him, with this music and his beautiful voice. You can do this. I wouldn't have given you this song if I didn't think you could do it."_

_He sighed. "Okay."_

_"Give them hell." She smiled, her phone rang and she saw the number. "I have to get this."_

_"Hello?"_

"_It's me." Hetty said._

_She smiled. "Hey I got a ticket up at the box office for you for Friday's performance."_

"_I-I don't know if I will be able to be there." Hetty said softly._

"_What's wrong?" She didn't like the sound in her voice._

_There was silence. Too long of silence. "He-he was shot." Hetty said trying not to cry._

"_I'll be there." Sarah grabbed her keys and started running backstage._

"_No. No. Gibbs is fine. He's already left...Bugger he doesn't know..." She trailed off._

"_Hetty what is going on?"_

_Hetty sighed and tried to pull herself together. "One of my agents was shot earlier this evening and I have to be there."_

"_Okay go, be there for them." She walked back and put her keys back on the hook._

"_I just don't know if I will be able to be there on Friday."_

"_It's okay Hetty." She assured her._

"_I just..." _

"_Meet me at 0200 in the women's center." Sarah said knowing that Hetty would be there all night._

"_Sarah I can't." She couldn't be away from the team._

"_Say you have to have some time to yourself." Sarah said._

"_Sarah-"_

"_I will not take no for an answer Hetty. 0200 Women's Center coffee machine. If you are not there I will find you." _

_Hetty sighed. "Fine"_

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_Sarah sat by the coffee machine reading a book. She heard footsteps come down the hallway and stop at the machine. "I wish they had decent tea in this machine."_

_Sarah sat there still reading the book "You know it's sad that people use tea bags for their tea. Some people cannot taste the paper." Sarah took the thermos out and placed it on the table._

_Hetty sat down next to her and saw the cup "Thank you." and started to cry._

"_Hetty?" She had never seen her like this._

"_They shot him five times while he was on the street. His partner saw the whole thing. They nearly lost him twice. He's in surgery now. His chances are not good." She let go of her feelings and hoped that once they started she would be able to stop._

"_You shouldn't be telling me this," and not just because of their rule of not talking about what she does._

"_I can't lose him. He's my responsibility. I cannot lose him," she cried harder. She needed to protect him. She needed to make up for not being able to protect her._

"_Hetty. This is not your fault." Sarah assured her._

"_What if they found him?" she said and immediately regretted it._

"_Who?" Sarah asked._

_Knowing that she said too much she pulled herself together "Never... never mind," she wiped away the tears, looked at Sarah and tried to smile._

_Sarah looked at her and was going to ask her about it again but decided not to. "You know for a woman who never had children...you sure do have a lot of them."_

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Chapter 6

"So how is Gibbs." Callen finally asked.

"Good. He gave me the speech on how I should have known better but he's glad that you and Sam were there. I think that actually stopped him from flying here. Oh and he told me that the next time he's in town to meet at Lou's at noon."

He smiled. "He remembered."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Sarah asked.

He thought about it. "May 2009. He was here on business."

"So that was you. I got a text from him asking me to meet him at nine at the pier and to bring coffee."

"Ten on the beach. When was the last time you saw him?" Callen asked.

"Six months ago."

"For Mike Franks."

She nodded. He could tell that she didn't want to talk about it yet. "So what was Hetty like when you were younger?"

"The cool Aunt who traveled around the world doing secret missions. Her and my Mom had known each other since they were ten. Mom became a teacher. She died of cancer when I was eight. Dad was a Marine."

"He knew Franks and Gibbs."

She smiled. "You've been reading my file."

"Well I have to know about background of the case that we're working on."

Sarah played with the stem of the wine glass. "So I'm ready."

"For?" He asked.

"My last test." Sarah said hoping it would be her last test.

He looked at his watch. "Okay where are they?"

"Blond woman three booths back with the crying child."

She turned her head slightly. "Man with red hair facing us in the far right corner with two blond women with their backs to us."

"The man wearing a baseball cap across the street sitting on the bench waiting for the bus reading a book. He acts like he's getting on the bus but goes around the building and changes caps. He's done now three times."

She then thought about it and looked around the room. "Our waitress."

"Are you sure?" He asked only because she thought about it.

"Yes." She was sure now. "When you told her you would have a beer she didn't ask what brand."

"I could be a regular."

She pointed at the banner outside of the building. "This place just opened at noon today."

"Very good." Callen stopped the timer on his watch.

"So how long are you going to have Deeks do that?" Sarah asked looking out the window.

"What?" Callen asked.

"He's the one at the bus stop."

He smiled. "A couple of more times."

"You're mean." Sarah tried not to laugh but knew he was okay with the relationship.

He smiled. "Well if him and Kensi would just be truthful and tell us that they are seeing each other then we wouldn't have to play this game anymore."

"When did you know?" Sarah asked.

"When Hetty went off grid."

"Be easy on them. It was a difficult time for all of you and some people deal with...meeting their own fate their own way." She said knowing the feeling all too well.

"I'm not mad. I just want to tell them it's about freaking time."

She got out her phone and dialed a number. "Hey it's Batgirl. You can stop doing that I got you. Oh and do me a favor give Wonder Woman this message 'They know and it's okay' yes she'll know what I'm talking about." She hung up.

"See that easy." She smiled.

"You didn't have to do that."

She shrugged her shoulders "You do what you have to for family. It's one of my rules."

"You have them too?"

"I got that one from Mike Franks it's an unspoken rule. But I think everyone eventually gets their own set of rules after working with Gibbs." She looked out the window and smiled seeing Deeks on the phone walking to his car. "Your case your lead."

"If you think someone is out to get you they probably are" Callen said.

"If someone has the upper hand break it." Sarah said.

"Never trust a lawyer." Callen said.

"Don't waste good." Sarah said.

"Always be specific when you lie." Callen said.

"Never be unreachable." Sarah said.

"Never take anything for granted." Callen said.

She paused. "Trust no one." She looked at him revealing one of her rules.

"Protect the ones you care about." Callen said.

"Never ignore the bad vibes." Sarah said.

"Don't take everything so seriously." Callen said.

"Keep business and personal lives separate." Sarah said.

"Trust is not given it's earned." Callen said.

"Never date your partner." Sarah said.

"Never date someone with handcuffs." Callen said.

She was surprised at that one and wondered how he would feel when she was back on agent status again. "You always have a choice." Sarah said.

"There's always another way." Callen said.

They stared at each other. "Always carry a knife." They both said together.

"Everything alright?" The waitress asked after watching them.

"Yes it was great."

"Nell this is Sarah. Nell works up in Ops with Eric."

"Hi" She placed the check on the table.

"So you're Nell. I've heard some things about you."

"You have?" Callen asked wondering how she would have known about her.

"We have a...mutual friend. We will have to work together on some things when the time comes." She looked at her and saw the look of surprise on Nell's face.

"So you're _that_ Sarah." Nell said.

"Yes."

"Well it was nice to meet you. I told the others that they could go home is that okay Agent Callen?"

"That's fine Nell. Thanks." Callen waited until Nell was back in the kitchen. "Business?"

"Nell is in charge of Hetty's business life. I'm in charge of her personal life."

He looked at her strange. "Let me put it this way if we didn't meet now we would have met if something happened to Hetty."

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"This is it?" Sarah asked looking at the house.

"It's the address that she put in the GPS."

She got out of the car. "She told me she sold it."

"You've been here?"

"This was the house that she was living in the summer I stayed with her. When I was looking for a house a couple of years ago I offered to buy it but she told me that it was already sold. I can't believe she kept it."

He handed her the keys. "Well go on in."  
She walked in and the memories flooded. She stood in the foyer and remembered the hours that she spent trying to figure out how to get up the stairs without making a sound. Hetty made sure that if she was alone and someone got in she would hear no matter what.  
"Kensi told me that the floor plans would be here but I can't find them." Callen said looking in the usual spot for where they put the plans.  
Sarah walked over to the piano bench and opened it up.  
"How did you know they would be there?" He asked.  
She handed him the folder. "I had a notebook about the house. I hid it in this bench."  
"How long did it take you to learn every thing?"  
"Three weeks. She had to stop me for a day because I started getting a little too obsessed with it. I was falling asleep at the table while studying the notes. I would also wake up at all hours of the morning to see if I could get out without her knowing."  
"Anything I should know?" He looked around.  
"If the electricity is out or someone cuts the line to the phones or security system. Don't worry. She has this place rigged up to make sure that you will know." She walked over the stairs and barely stepped on it. He heard it creek. She stepped in a different spot of the stair and he heard nothing.  
"Interesting" He walked up and put his arm around her. "You did a good job today."

She looked up at him. "Thanks. Makes me wonder what she has in store for me tomorrow."

"Expect the unexpected with Hetty."

"I think that's one of her rules." She kissed him softly on the mouth. He felt her move closer to him. Her arm around his neck

"I've been wanting to do that all day." She whispered.

Mouth on hers he found himself up against the wall. She kicked off her shoes, got on her tip toes, and put her arms around him. He took his coat off and tossed it on the floor. She started untucking his shirt.

He began to unbutton her blouse while she took off his tie. He got half way down on the buttons when she broke off the kiss. "Wait." She said out of breath. "Wait." She took his hands in hers. "There is something you should know." She said.

"What?" He asked.

She closed her eyes. "I was shot." She said knowing that he probably already knew but she found easier letting someone know before they saw her scar on her right shoulder.

He looked at her. "I know. I read your file."

"Yes but it was because-"

"It's okay." He assured her. He pulled the fabric away from her right shoulder and saw the scar. "Did they get the bastard?" He asked.

"Yeah. I did." She said letting him go and walking over to the couch in the living room.

"Good." He wanted to ask what happened but knew that she was not allowed or wanted to talk about it. He walked over to her. "After Gibbs left the last time he was here I was shot."

She sat down. "What?"

"Five times." Callen sat down next to her.

"You nearly died twice."

"How did you know that?" He asked.

She sighed. "I saw Hetty that night. She called me to let me know that she might not be able to be at a show that was coming up. She was upset and she told me that one of her agents was shot. I met her at the women's center of the hospital early the next morning told her to make an excuse. I never saw her like that before. Even when my parents died she was so pulled together but that night she just lost it." Sarah saw his reaction and knew that his bond with Hetty was stronger than she thought. "I'm sorry I ruined the evening." She said.

He took her hand. "You didn't."

"We should get some sleep. There are three rooms upstairs that you're welcome to. There's also the couch but I'm going to warn you it's even more uncomfortable than the couch in the boat house."  
"Don't tell Sam that he likes that couch."  
She kissed his cheek. "I'll be in the bedroom down the hall. I'll see you tomorrow."  
"Goodnight."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~


	10. Chapter 7

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I don't own NCIS:LA. I do own Sarah. Don't sue unless you want to send my kids to college.

There is a Flashback at the beginning.

Special Thanks to my editor who got me focused.

Again thanks for reading and please leave feedback.

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_"You're no exception to the rule. I'm irresistible you fool give in."_

"Whatever Lola Wants" from the Musical Damn Yankees (Sarah Vaughn version)

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**FLASHBACK after "Lange, H"**

_G. Callen thought he was dreaming when he saw Gibbs walk down the hallway to Hetty's room. "Gibbs? What are you doing here?" He asked._

"_Vance sent me to make sure that Little Mother was okay and the kids were keeping out of trouble."_

"_She'll be fine." Callen said with relief._

"_We're keeping out of trouble." Sam said._

"_Good. How are you Callen?" Gibbs asked._

"_I'm fine." _

_Sam tried not to laugh "He's going to be locked in his hotel room after this shift Gibbs. He needs to sleep." _

"_I'm fine." Callen said again clenching his jaw._

"_Right." Sam said still not believing him._

"_I'm going to see her I'll be out in a couple of minutes." Gibbs said going towards the door. _

"_I'll go in with you." Sam got out of his chair and opened the door._

_Hetty looked up to see Gibbs walk in with Sam behind him. "Oh Bugger." She said closing her book "He sent you?"_

_Gibbs pulled the chair that was against the wall over to her bed. "If Vance came here you know you would be in bigger trouble. How are you?" Gibbs said sitting down in the chair._

"_I'll be fine." Hetty said putting the book on the nightstand. "You wasted a trip." She tried to adjust to get comfortable. She looked over at Sam standing at the foot of her bed looking like he wanted to scream at her. "What's wrong Mr. Hanna?"_

"_I need to know what you know about Callen." He said serious._

"_What makes you think I know more than I am telling you?" She asked._

"_Because when I was getting you out of the Comescu compound you kept on saying that you were not able to 'save her' and 'I have to protect __them__'."_

"_We'll talk about this later." She said trying to brush him off._

"_Hetty, he should know." Gibbs told her._

_She glared at Gibbs. She brought him into the inner circle of protecting Callen when he was in Russia. He had become like an older brother to Callen and someone that he could trust if needed. But there had to be another reason besides Vance sending him to check on her._

"_Know what?" Sam asked._

"_Nothing." She said._

"_Don't shut me out Hetty." Sam said getting annoyed._

"_Not now." She told him._

_Sam was usually the one who could always keep calm when Hetty told him that everything was okay and didn't ask questions but he was at the breaking point now. The last four days were hell on everyone. He was able to hide his concern but he was now the breaking point and knew he would not be able to control his anger. "He remembered his mother." he said quietly._

_She looked at him "What?"_

"_Are you sure?" Gibbs asked stunned._

_Now Sam knew that they were hiding something important "A couple of months ago he remembered being on a beach and a man with a tattoo on the inside of his wrist him a tin soldier. Two days ago he was on that beach. He remembered two men walking up to them. One gave him the tin soldier like he found on his sister's grave. The other man shot his mother in front of him."_

"_He needs to know Hetty." Gibbs stressed._

_She nodded. "Gibbs, could you please tell Mr. Hanna what he needs to know. Make sure Callen is not around."_

"_G is going to need to know Hetty. You are going to have to tell him."_

"_I will." She said._

_Sam looked at his watch and realized he was going to be late "I'll be back in a couple of hours. I have to go and get Nate at the Airport."_  
_ "Nate?" _  
_ "He called to check in and Vance told him what happened. Nate told him that he was on his way."_  
_ "Another child coming home." Gibbs smiled at her._  
_ "I'll be fine!" She said frustrated.  
"We'll talk later Gibbs. Callen's shift is over around seven tomorrow morning." Sam said. _  
_ "Okay Sam." Gibbs said watching Sam leave the room and making sure that Callen would not come into the room._  
_ Hetty waited a couple of seconds after Sam left to finally speak. "How is she?"_  
_ "Hurt. Worried. Pissed. Relieved that you're alive."_  
_ "Please let her know that I'll be fine." She said._  
_ Gibbs got up and handed Hetty her book off the nightstand. "Tell her yourself." He smiled when he saw her shocked reaction. "A nurse will be coming over to see you in a couple of hours to make sure that your vitals are okay before your Doctor goes to a meeting. Vance has cleared this. Be nice to her."_  
_ "You should not have brought her." Hetty said not looking at him._  
_ He laughed putting the chair up against the wall "You know Callen and the team are not the only ones who would have gone through hell to get you back." He reminded her and neglected to tell her how he had to keep Sarah from not going after Hetty herself. "Vance wants her tested while she is here."_  
_ "No."_  
_ "Not your choice. Vance's orders. Now be a good patient and get some rest."_

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
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Chapter 7

The next day Callen walked into Hetty's office and placed the file on her desk. "Here is the evaluation and recommendation for Sarah."

Hetty looked at the scores and then read the letter. "Does Director Vance know about this?"

"I emailed him this morning."

"I will let her know." She said expressionless.

"Okay." He simply said and walked away.

She looked at the scores again and wondered what was going on. Sam barely passed her on the self-defense which she knew that he would. In the notes he stated that he took it into consideration that she was attacked from the night before. She checked the evaluation from Nate and the other scores and it did not make sense. Callen was not recommending her for reasons that were ridiculous and they all knew it. She watched him look uneasy watching for Sarah to come in. Sarah's schedule was starting off her day meeting with Nate for about an hour. After that she would be working on the self-defense again. She looked up her emails and found the recommendation letter sent to Director Vance.

Nell walked up and dropped off some papers "Ms. Jones I want you to do something for me please." She printed it up the email, put it in an envelope, and sealed it. "Please put this on Miss Burgess' locker room door for me. Discretely."

"Sure."

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Sarah walked into the break room at OSP and opened the refrigerator door. "Oh bless you!" she said looking at the box of Chai and taking it out.

"Morning." Sam said walking in.

"Morning."

"How did it go last night?" Sam asked.

"It went well."

He sat down at the table "Good. I wanted to let you know that both are you invited over for dinner tonight."

She poured the chai into the glass. "Dinner?"

"My wife wants to meet you."

She was shocked to hear that he was married. "Really?"

"Really."

"Does Callen know about this?" She asked.

"G. knows that he is required to bring you."

"Required?"

He tried not to laugh seeing the look on her face. "Will you relax? She's not going to interrogate you...unless you hurt him."

"I just feel like this is another test."

"This is not a test. Speaking of tests how did the one you had last night at dinner?" He asked hoping what he heard was true around the bullpen was true.

"As far I know I passed." Sarah poured the milk in.

"I knew you would. You should have that badge by the end of the day."

Sarah looked at him and saw that he was beaming like an expectant father. "That's up to Callen, Hetty and Director Vance." She put the tea and milk back in the refrigerator.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked not liking the change of expression on her face.

"Something is different. He seems distant this morning."

"What do you mean distant?" He knew something was up with Callen when he walked in the door going straight to Hetty's office.

"Yesterday when he found out that Hetty is my Godmother he was okay with that to a point. Today I don't know. Something is going on."

"That's just G don't worry." He tried to assure her.

"Okay. I have to go back and talk to Nate again."

"Good luck."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah stood in the doorway of Nate's office and watched him reading the latest Batgirl comic. "Doing research on me now Nate?" She joked.

He looked up at her "Well I have to find out how you tick." He said putting the comic down.

"I can come back later. The fight between Batgirl and Nightwing is good." She smiled. "But it takes him to make her realize that she is pushing everyone away when she needs them the most." She closed the door behind her.

"Are you pushing someone away Sarah?" He asked.

"No. But I have a feeling that someone is trying to push me away now."

"Callen?" He said.  
She nodded. "Callen."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Deeks dropped Kensi off at OSP and then drove to LAPD to talk to the arresting officer on Sarah's case. He had known Steve Bury for about six years now, considered him one of the few friends he had still over at LAPD and someone he could depend on outside of LAPD.  
He walked over to Steve's office and heard him on the phone.  
"I know Jenn. I sent her a message and she has not responded. I'm sure she's fine." Steve looked up and saw Deeks standing in the doorway and motioned him into his office. "Yeah, I know, I will let her know. I have to go Jenn, Deeks is here and I have to talk to him about something." He paused listening to his wife "I will. Love you."  
"Sorry."  
"Is Jenn okay?"  
"She's stressed about a class." He said telling him the truth from a certain point of view. "How is secret squirrel land Deeks?"

"Good. Do you have any new information on the Burgess case?" Deeks asked.

"Lawyer dropped the charge against her. Suspect still not talking. We found video inside the bar and can't find anything. I'm having our guys sent it to Eric ASAP" He handed him the file. "How is she?" Steve asked.

"Okay. In a safe house and working on agent status." Deeks said looking through the file.

"Well she should pass. I heard 'Batgirl' kicked your ass." He smiled.

Deeks laughed "You've been talking to Hetty. Don't let that get around."

"I won't." He paused and looked serious "Are you sure she's okay?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." Steve knew he was caught now.

"Steve?"

"She's going to kill me." He got up and closed the office door. "Jenn is Sarah's assistant."

"Why didn't you tell Sam and Callen that you knew her at the scene?"

"Sarah rules about protecting family and I have a rule about not pissing off redheads. Remember the Roberts case a couple of years ago?" He asked.

"Threatened to kill Jenn and the kids after your testimony and found guilty. You both went to Hawaii after that." Deeks remembered it being all over the news when he just got out of an undercover job.

"Sarah is the only reason why we were able to go. I was so close to canceling that trip until she brought over some files and Hetty. Told me that Jenn and I were going and she would be watching them."

"Sarah was the babysitter." Deeks remembered. He took a couple of night shifts watching the house with the other officers.

"When I saw her the other night I really wanted to say something but I knew that when she found out they were Federal Agents I couldn't. They will know eventually but right now please don't tell them." Steve asked.  
"Fine. You owe me a beer when this case is over." Deeks got up to leave.  
"Only if you tell me about that gorgeous partner of yours that you are secretly dating." Steve said smiling.  
Deeks laughed "Two beers for that one."  
"Deal."  
"Keep me updated."  
"Will do." Steve said.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah heard her phone beep as she walked out of Nate's office. She looked and realized that she had not checked her messages since after she talked to Gibbs. A couple of texts from her students letting her know about some stuff about the program coming up, and two texts from April that made her feel guilty.

'_Jenn said you're taking time off. Is it with your admirer? Call me!'_

_ 'Hope you're okay.'_  
"Sorry April. I'll call soon I promise." When she walked in the locker room she saw a white envelope on her locker door. "Well that can't be good." She said as she opened the letter and saw that it was a letter to Hetty and Director Vance from Callen. Her heart sank when she read the cold, unemotional, formal letter about her telling them '_Miss Burgess needs more work_', '_Not ready for the operation_'_, _'_Recommendation to be tested in two weeks to be considered to be part of the mission.' _and to be_ 'Assured that she will be able to do the job when she is trained.'_  
"Son of a bitch!" She got up and went to find him.

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"I'm just sayin' George is director he can do whatever he wants with it." Callen said defending the reason.  
"But he _shot_ first!" Sam said again.  
"What are they talking about?" Deeks asked Kensi walking into the bullpen.  
Kensi rolled her eyes and sighed. "The number one argument that they _always_ have. Who shot first Han or Greedo."  
"That's a no brainer. Han." Deeks said sitting down at his desk.  
"See! They agree" Sam smiled.  
"Wait. I did not agree!" Kensi glared at him.  
"So we're back to needing her vote it's now two to one." Sam smiled and winked at Kensi. His smile went away when he saw the expression on Sarah's face as she walked in.

"Agent Callen I would like to have a word with you about this." She handed the letter to him.

Callen opened up the letter "Where did you get this?" He asked her.  
"That doesn't matter right now. What does matter is you neglected to say in this recommendation that you broke Gibbs Rule number ten." She walked out of the bullpen, passed Hetty's office, and walked out of the front door.  
Sam took the note from Callen. "Rule number ten?" Sam asked reading the note.  
"Never get personally involved in a case." He followed her.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sam walked over to Hetty's office and sat down in the chair.

"Yes Mr. Hanna?" She said writing.

"He's scared." He said.

"Yes he is."

"I don't think I have ever seen him like this before."

"I have before he started working for here." She finally looked at him. "He trusts her and that's what scares him."

"Gibbs told me in Romania that I was not your first choice to be his partner. It was Sarah wasn't it."

She nodded. "If she didn't leave yes she would have been his partner. I knew since she was fourteen and snuck out of the house that first night she stayed with me."

He smiled thinking of the story that Sarah told him from the day before. "They would have been good together." He admitted.

"They would have been dangerous." Hetty smiled.

"Glad they are on our side. Now let's hope they don't kill each other." He got up and walked back to his desk.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

She walked down the sidewalk and heard him running up behind her. "Sarah." He grabbed her arm. She turned around and he ducked before her hand came within inches of slapping his face. The spinning momentum had her fall into his arms "What the hell do you think you're doing?" His arms around her.  
"Let. Me. Go." She said quietly trying not to cause a scene as people sitting outside across the street at the coffee shop looked at them.  
"Not until you answer me. How did you get the letter?"  
"Who do you think gave it to me Callen? Do you really think that Hetty would accept that recommendation?"

He let go of her and turned her around to face him. "I was hoping that-"

"Between last night which I thought went well and today something changed. Was it because I didn't-"

"No it wasn't."

"Then why? I know I need work but two weeks? Callen I have a job I need to get back to. I have six weeks left in the semester. I have a show in a month and my students have their finals right after that I cannot afford to be gone for two weeks."

"I know."

"Then let me prove you wrong."

"How?" He asked.

"We'll do this my way." She smiled. "Give me your keys."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

They walked on the stage in the music department where she worked. "My plan was always go to back to school when I left NCIS. I wanted to teach. Music basically saved me when I was younger. I knew that if I didn't stay with Hetty after my Dad died I would probably just stay in my room and listen to music all day. Some days it saved me from going insane." She moved some of the props around.

"I went to school and had no idea what I wanted to do. There was an audition for 'My Fair Lady' and I decided to go for it. Got the lead and by the next semester I had a major. I learned that it only takes one person not to believe that you are that character. The magic is gone. You're just someone in a costume singing a song."

"Like undercover work."

"Yes." She flipped the switch and the stage lights turned on.

"Do you miss it?"

She thought about it for a couple of seconds "Sometimes."

"So what's the challenge?"

"That I can prove to you that I am the character while I'm singing. I give my students a couple of tries but I only get one chance."

"You think you can prove it in one?" He asked.

"If I can't I will agree to your letter of recommendation. I will be there for two weeks without complaints and be tested again."

"Okay."

"Here I would like you to put this on." She handed him a tie.

"And this." She handed him a jacket.

She got the song set up. The lights dimmed. The music started. She closed her eyes, opened them and gave him a come hither smile "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets." She walked across the stage slowly to him. "And little man, little Lola wants you. Make up your mind to have. No regrets." She touched his chest. "Recline yourself. Resign yourself, you're through" She pushed him down to the chair.

Her hand on his shoulder she walked around him lightly caressing his shoulders. "I always get what I aim for" This was not working. She had to think fast. Then she remembered the one mission with Gibbs. She paid the singer in the club to take a long break when she saw that Gibbs was about to get into trouble. She sang one of the manager's favorite songs and had him hooked so bad he was distracted that Gibbs was able to get out of the place. He offered the singing job to Sarah on the spot. _Eye contact_ made it possible. Simple eye contact. Make him feel like he is the only one in the room.

He looked away she touched his face softly. She slowly turned his face back to her. He was not looking at her. Her fingers under his chin she bent over and tilted his head up slowly and looked into his eyes. She smiled and held his gaze "Don't you know you can't win."

'Oh crap.' was all he could think of at the moment.

"You're no exception to the rule" She stood up and turned to leave. With her back turned he stood up, grabbed her hand and pulled her to him he wanted to see what she would do. Her back up against him his arm went around her waist he saw the look of surprise and shock flashed in her eyes. She closed her eyes and was back in character as she continued to sing. He heard her voice shake as his right hand went slowly down to her hip. His breath on her neck she smelled of flowers and some type of spice.

She turned around and the look in her eyes changed again. Want. Need. She was going to have him and she was not going to take no for an answer. She took him by the tie and slowly walked backwards leading him to the table. "I always get," Her voice now sounding like she was purring "What I aim for. And your heart and soul is what I came for." She was at the table with him against her. As if in a trance he automatically lifted her onto the table her hands went underneath the jacket and moved from his chest to his shoulders. She pulled the coat off of him "Whatever Lola wants Lola gets." He couldn't keep his eyes off of her. "Take off your coat." She tossed it on the ground and smiled. "Don't you know, you can't win." Her fingers twisted around the tie. "You're no exception to the rule." She leaned back on the table pulling him to her until he was on top of her.

All he wanted to do was kiss her. To taste her. To make love to her. To have her be his. "I'm irresistible you fool ... give in." She let go of the tie and he slowly started to stand up watching her. Her arms bent and hands above her head. She smiled almost laughed seductively knowing that he is now hers.

"Give in." She wrapped her leg around him, slowly got up taking the hair stick out and letting her hair fall slowly around her. His arm wrapped around her lower back as hers went around his neck "Give in" She whispered.

They stayed there looking into each other's eyes. The IPod started playing Coldplay and within seconds Sarah's eyes changed and Lola was gone. Her breath began quicken as neither one of them wanted to move. He was so close. All she had to do was move and her mouth would be on his. His hand touched her cheek and the spark they both felt the other night at the boatshed happened again. "Callen." She barely whispered.

They heard slow clapping in the audience. "Very good Miss Burgess." Hetty said standing in the isle by the orchestra pit. "You have proved to Agent Callen that you can seduce him." She walked over to the stairs.

Sarah looked at Callen in shock. Callen let go of her and she got off the table. "I-I wasn't trying to seduce him." She said as Hetty got on stage she could feel her face turn beet red. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm checking on both of you. I wanted to make sure that you didn't kill each other." She looked at Callen who was now on the other side of the stage and then back at Sarah.

"We're fine." Callen said feeling like a teenager caught by an adult making out in the back of a car. Out of all the stupid things he could have done he had to focus on his attention on her.

"I-I wasn't trying to seduce him." She repeated. "I was just trying to prove to him-"

"I know. You did a good job. Agent Callen on the other hand" She looked over at him "If you were on a mission you would be dead."

"Why do you say that?" He asked he finally looked at her.

"Because next time it may not just be a simple hair stick that she takes out of her hair it could be a _kansashi_ hairpin. They have been known to be deadly or she could of had a knife." She smiled Sarah. "Good thinking dear." She said and slammed her file on the table.

Sarah jumped slightly. "Thanks." She tried to stop shaking due to the total embarrassment and adrenaline rush she got. Callen could see the redness now spread down her neck as she wrapped her hair up in a bun and put the hair stick back in.

"She's approved Mr. Callen. I just got off the phone with Director Vance and he has signed off on it." Hetty opened the file and signed the paper. "He also said that he wants this done right away and get to the bottom of this right now."

Sarah walked back to the table and saw the form that had approved stamped in red ink. Hetty reached in her purse and handed the badge to Sarah "Congratulations Agent Burgess." she turned around and walked down the stairs.

"I want both of you back at ops in thirty minutes!" She said trying to control her anger with both of them as she walked up the aisle.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~ 

9


	11. How they Met

How They Met (AKA: The Halloween They Will Never Forget….)

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I'm the type of person who will take inspiration wherever I can get it. A couple of days before Halloween 2011 I was thinking of how they would meet. A song from "Gnomeo and Juliet" came on my Ipod and it struck.

Chapter 8 is coming along and should be out soon.

Thanks for reading. I have opened up the reviews to anonymous reviews.

Again I don't own any of the characters of NCIS:LA. Sarah is mine. Don't sue.  
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Just when you think  
You're a chain with just one link  
Something comes to tip you off your stool  
Hello, Hello  
My, my, my, what have we here?  
What a surprise what a surprise

"Hello, Hello" by Elton John

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

October 29, 2011

The op ended hours ago but G Callen didn't want to go home. There was something about the op that made him just want to drive. Sam asked him if he wanted to come over to the house to watch the game but he turned him down. He was thankful that Sam didn't bug him about what was going on. He just wanted to be alone.

He found himself at the door of Lonigan's bar, where they had team building night nearly two and a half years ago. It was also the night that Dom had been taken, and the guilt hit him again. As he walked into the bar area he saw a woman on the makeshift stage. She was dressed as some type of princess and trying to sing '_I will survive_' while very drunk and completely tone deaf. He sat down at the bar and ordered a beer.

The bartender looked at him. "What are you dressed up as?" he asked.

"What?"

The bartender pointed at the sign against the wall that said 'Halloween Karaoke Night'

"Oh. I haven't decided yet." He said.

When the woman was finally done with her song, she got off the stage, surprisingly without breaking her neck, and passed the next person to go up.

"Okay, next we have Sarah." The DJ said and got the music ready for her.

She walked up the stairs and smiled. She was dressed up as a belly dancer, but the outfit was not the traditional type. She wore a black choli top with dark purple and green skirts. Her red hair was up and she had hair sticks holding the mass of curls in. She wore dark makeup that showed off her green eyes. What made Callen notice her, was not her red hair that made him think of Gibbs, or her green eyes that G seemed to be a sucker for. It was the song that she sang that got his attention. A song that triggered a memory of his past "Love, love will keep us together. Think of me babe whenever. Some sweet talking girl comes along…."

_He was sitting in the back of a dark green VW wagon. His mother was driving and his sister Amy was sitting next to him singing along to the song._

_"Mom! Sister is doing it again!" He complained._

"_It's okay G." His mother said looking at them in the rear view mirror. She had seemed very calm that morning. _

_"But they just played this song."_

_"That was on the other station baby brother," Amy smiled at him between lyrics, and kept on singing, "just stop cause I really love you, stop I've been thinking of you of you."_

_Callen rolled his eyes and made a face at his sister which made her laugh._

_"We'll be at the beach in about five minutes, G." His Mother said, changing the channel again on the radio._

_"Good!" He mumbled._

The applause brought him back to where he was. The woman smiled and walked off the stage.

He watched her sit down next to a couple, dressed up as a Doctor and Cleopatra, as a group of women dressed up as superheroes got on stage and began singing '_When I grow up_' by the Pussycat Dolls.

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Sarah Burgess watched the room as the night went on. It became a habit for her to be aware of her surroundings, even after she wasn't an agent anymore. She knew where all the exits were, how to get out, who would be harmless and who would give her trouble. With her dressed as a belly dancer she needed to know that one. The cowboy over in the far corner looked like he would be a problem.

But there was a man there that also made her wonder. He sat there drinking his beer not talking to anyone. She noticed him when he walked in. He looked uneasy, like he would rather be anywhere but there, but forced himself to be there.

"Earth to Sarah!" Jenn said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What?"  
"You went into that zone again." Jenn said teasing her.  
"I didn't go into a zone." She denied.  
"Yes you did." Steven said. "You were scanning the room, and making sure you could get out if you needed to." Which he wondered why, since she had been going there for years. "Who is the one that is on your radar?" He asked.  
"There are two." She whispered. "Cowboy over there has been giving me a look since we walked in. Been hitting on some of the women and getting pretty rejected."

Steven had noticed him when they sat down. "He's been drinking a lot too. Who else?"

She sighed. "Man wearing a white shirt, jeans and black coat at the end of the bar."

Steven looked over at the man "Looks harmless."  
"He does. But I think I met him before."  
"Where would you have met him?" He asked.  
"I don't know. But I know I have seen him before." It was going to drive her nuts until she knew who he was. "I'll be back in a minute." She told him getting up and seeing if she could get a closer look.

As Sarah walked over by the bar she noticed him glance up at her then back to the singer on stage. She kept on walking and saw the cowboy walking over blocking the entrance down the hall.

"Hey little lady." He said reeking of beer and cigarettes.

She tried to move around him. "Excuse me."

He shifted over and blocked her way. "I said Hey little lady."

"Fine" she mumbled. "Hey. Now excuse me."

He blocked her way again. "Who are you supposed to be?"

"A belly dancer" she said. _'Here it comes the smart ass remark about being a stripper_' she thought.

"So you're a stripper? Cool! Dance for me."

Callen looked over to see her trying to leave the room and the knuckle driver blocking her way.

"Belly dancers are not strippers." She tried to be calm.

"Sure they are. Why don't you dance for me." He got closer to her "Or are you too shy?"

She looked over at the table she was at and gave Steven a signal that the goon didn't notice. "I'm not shy. I want to use the ladies room." She said.

"Oh, well you can go to the ladies room right after you give me a private dance."

Callen saw out of the corner of his eye a signal that he thought they used in NCIS. He looked over to see what was going on. Seemed the drunken cowboy was not taking 'no' for an answer from her. He was going to wait and see until he saw the knuckle driver put his hand on her waist.

"Enough." He mumbled and walked over there.

"Look buddy, I'm being nice." which was the truth, because what she really wanted to do was punch him in the face but she decided that she didn't need the aggravation and Steven didn't need the paperwork and explaining to the Chief of Police why his friend who looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly would beat the crap out of the man.

"No you're not. Come on dance for me"

She batted his hand away from her and backed away from him.

"Are you okay Sweetie?" A voice said behind her.

She looked up to see the man who had been at the bar behind her glaring at the goon. "Yes Dear. I'm fine. I'm just...trying to go to the ladies room." She didn't flinch when his warm hand touched her arm.

"Go ahead." The man said looking defeated.

She looked at the man behind her "Thanks." and went down the hall to the Ladies room.

Callen stared at him until the door closed. "Leave her alone." He said quietly and turned to walk back to his seat.

"Or what?" The knuckle driver asked. Callen stopped in his tracks about to turn around but saw the man from her table was up and walking towards them. He reached into the Doctor's coat and showed his badge. Callen nodded and went back to his seat. "Hey buddy. Let's go out and have a chat." The Doctor said taking him by the arm and walking him outside.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Minutes later Sarah walked out of the bathroom and saw the man who was behind her back sitting at the bar. She looked out the window and saw Steven talking to the drunk cowboy with a squad car there.

"What the hell happened Sarah?" Jenn asked as she sat down.

"Someone thought that belly dancers were strippers."

"I knew I should have gone with you." Jenn said getting into Mom mode.

"I'm okay." She assured Jenn and looked over at the man at the bar.

Jenn looked at Sarah. "Seriously what did that guy say?"

She couldn't keep her eyes off of him. "He just asked me if I was okay."

"Your signal and him helping out got Steven's attention."

"Well it's a good thing I know someone on the LAPD." The waitress came and picked up the bottle of beer in front of her. "Sue, I'll have one more and could you give the guy over at the end of the bar another round of whatever he is drinking."

"He just paid his tab."

"Then put it on mine and give him back his money."

"Sure." She smiled and walked away.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen went to leave and saw the waitress put his money back on the bar. "Already been paid for." she said smiling.

"Who paid for it?" He asked.

"She did." She pointed over to a table.

He looked to see that it was from the belly dancer. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Her name is Sarah. She's usually here on Monday's and Thursday's" The waitress said seeing them interact.

"You know her?"

"She's a Music teacher at the college. Her friends husband is a cop. She's single. She won't be here on Monday but will be here on Thursday."

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked.

"Because you are the only guy she has bought a drink for in all the years she has been coming here."

He handed her the money back "Thank you for that information. Please thank her for the drink and I guess I'll see you on Thursday." He said getting up and walking out of the bar.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~


	12. Chapter 8

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
I don't own any of the NCIS: LA Characters I only own Sarah.  
(I used dialog from season 2 ep 23)

This chapter is the longest one that I have done. Most of this has been ready for almost a year. Chapter 9 should be coming up soon just waiting for the editing.

As always thanks for the favorites and the reviews. I have opened it up to anonymous reviews please review so I know that someone is reading.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Chapter 8**

Callen tried to keep an eye on her as they drove back to the Mission. She looked at the badge the entire time in the car. It was like she had seen a ghost.  
"Is that the first time you have seen that since you went on reserve?" He asked breaking the silence.  
"No. I found it while packing to go to DC. I grabbed a bag and it fell out. I couldn't believe I still had it. Hetty gave it back to me when I walked out and told me the deal that would keep both of us in NCIS."  
"You were never called in after you left?"

"Gibbs asked me to be another set of eyes on some of them, but I wasn't listed on the report. I was usually eye candy and stuck with DiNozzo just in case something happened."

He pulled into the lot. "Wait you and DiNozzo?"

"We're just friends nothing more."

He looked at her. "Just friends? DiNozzo doesn't have 'just friends' Sarah."

"He does with me. We're too much alike."

He laughed. "You're nothing alike."

"Tony knows that if he tried anything he would be knocked on his ass by me or get his ass handed to him by Gibbs."

Her phone alarm went off. "We have five minutes to get back in there,"  
"I can talk to her if you want me to."  
"No. This is my fault."  
"Sam wants us over for dinner tonight, to meet his wife." He finally told her.  
"He told me in the breakroom before I talked to Nate. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who keeps personal and private life separate."  
"His are on two different worlds. Kensi, Deeks, and the others don't know."

"His secret is safe with me."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Hetty walked into her office and sat down. She wasn't as angry at them she was surprised. Watching both of them bicker at each other earlier that day, and seeing them both on stage, how far that had actually come in the short amount of time that they had been together. She was also surprised at the choice of music selections. Out of all the songs Sarah knew, she picked that one. There were plenty of songs that she knew Sarah could have sung that would have had him believe but she chose that one. It was still a mystery to her and the performance nothing like she ever saw before. If she would have known that they would have a deep connection already she would have pushed harder to make her stay in NCIS. But after that last mission she was knew that if Sarah survived physically and mentally it would be a miracle.

"_Sullivan is dead." Their handler said._

"_What about Agent Burgess?" She asked. _

_She didn't like the silence at the other end of the line. "What about Agent Burgess?" She asked again._

"_She's missing." He finally said._

"_Find her." She told him._

"_We're doing the best that-"_

"_Find her now!" She told him and slammed the phone down._

Two days later she was surprised to get a call from Gibbs. Sarah was in a hospital beaten up pretty bad with a gunshot wound in the shoulder. From what he heard from the man who found her she was walking down the highway took him a couple of minutes to convince her that he was not one of them and he would protect her. When asked if there was anyone that she wanted to contact she gave him Gibbs' name before she passed out. They found him in Russia and he was there the next day.

Hetty looked at the clock as she saw both of them walk in and wondered who was going to talk to her. She wasn't surprised when Sarah walked up and stood there at the desk.

"Yes, Agent Burgess." Hetty said finally acknowledging that she was there.

"I would like to apologize for what happened this morning." Her stomach twisted in knots.

"Isn't that breaking a rule?" Hetty asked beginning to secretly enjoying this a little too much.  
Sarah sighed. "Yes but in this case I think it should be broken. What you saw was-"  
"Two people who have major trust issues who I have hoped that one day they would be able to trust someone out of their little 'family' work together on stage doing the most romantic version of that song I have ever seen."  
"Wait. What?" She sat down.  
"If I didn't know that this was a test I would have thought you two worked on it for weeks."  
She sat there looking confused. "So you're not mad?"  
Hetty smiled. "You're not the only one who can act Sarah Jane."  
She couldn't believe she fell for it. "I told myself...I have a rule." she stopped.  
"He made that promise to himself too years ago."  
Now she felt like an idiot. "The rule about handcuffs."  
"It happened years before he started working for me. As you said some rules are made to be broken. Especially if in the end you will both be happy."

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Kensi watched Deeks as he looked at the file. There was something bothering him and she wanted to know what it was. She walked over and saw what the file was. "Why are you looking at Sarah's file again?" Kensi asked Deeks.  
He was beginning to wonder the same thing. There had been something bothering him ever since he got back from talking to Steven."There is something about her that bothers me. I know I have seen her before but I cannot remember where." He looked at the back of the file where it had some pictures and he saw a picture of Gibbs and Sarah together and he remembered.  
_Gibbs dropped his coffee and went right to the nurse. Deeks saw him whisper in her ear._

"_I don't care!" The nurse said kicking and elbowed Gibbs in the chest. Gibbs leaned back and tried to catch his breath._

_Hunter was the same. "I swear I will-"_

"Holy crap!" He said stunned and shut the file.

"What?" Kensi asked.

"Where's Sarah?"

"In the gym I think. Why?"

"I have to talk to her."

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Deeks found Sarah on the walking on the treadmill. "Hey, Sarah."

She took her earphones off. "What's up?"  
"I would like to talk to you about something but not here." He looked over at Callen and Sam by the rock climbing wall.  
"Why not here?" She asked.  
"It's about an elevator, in Romania." He said quietly.  
She looked over to see if Sam and Callen were watching. She slowed down and turned off the machine. "Let's have lunch. There's a sandwich shop across the street. Meet me in the courtyard around one and we'll talk." She put the iPod in her pocket.  
"Okay."

She got off the treadmill and took the towel. "Oh, and you're buying." She told him walking to the locker room.

"Wait I didn't say-"  
She turned around "You want to know, you're buying lunch." She smiled and went into the locker room.  
"Know what?" Callen asked him.  
"Nothing."

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Sarah sat down on the bench and decided to cut through the small talk. "What made you remember?" She asked.

"I talked to Steven Bury at LAPD. He told me that you have known him and Jenn for about five years. I was looking at your file I saw a picture of you and Gibbs together. I knew I had seen you before but I couldn't remember. When did you get there?"  
She thought about it, "The third day that she was in the hospital."  
"Why did you pose as a nurse?"  
"You were all pretty raw with emotions. Gibbs knew that if he asked if I could see her, he would have been told no."  
"He could have told us about you. You have known Hetty your whole life."  
"Never mix business and personal lives."  
"What?"  
"It's a rule that Hetty and I have. If we see each other and it wasn't planned, or the team is there, we act like we don't know each other. With the jobs that we- she has, it's better that way."  
"So, why were you fighting with Hunter in an elevator?"  
"What did she tell you?" She asked.  
"She told me that she didn't want to talk about it. So what was it? Did she steal your boyfriend when you were younger or something?"  
She smiled. "I wish it was that simple. I met her when I was sixteen. We never got along and acted like we did only because of Hetty. I think she was mad that she was not the only one that Hetty trained."  
"How pissed was Gibbs when the doors closed?" He asked remembering the conversation he had after everything settled down.

"_This never happened." was all Gibbs said._

"_Agreed." Deeks said not about to ask what the hell was going on. He didn't want to know and the less he knew the better._

"Not as pissed as as I thought he would be. He was worried that the others, or worse Hetty, would find out. Told both of us that if he caught us fighting again, he was going to walk away and let us kill each other."  
"You got a couple of good hits on her."  
"Thanks. So why aren't you in NCIS yet?" She asked changing the subject.  
"Well you know, because I'm a cop, and I think it's more than what I do, I think it's who I am." He realized he was giving the same speech to her that he did to Hetty when she gave him the application for NCIS before she left.  
"Have you thought about applying?" She asked.  
"Hetty filled out an application before she left. All I need to do is sign."  
"She filled out the application? What the hell Deeks!"  
"I don't know if it is the right thing for me now." He said.  
"Oh cut the crap! Do you know how many people would love to work with her? How lucky you are to have her want you to be on her team?  
"Well I-"

"Is this about Kensi? You're afraid that something will happen, and to make it less painful you would go back to LAPD to make it easier on her."

He nodded.  
"You two are impossible, you know that? I'm going to ask you what I asked Kensi yesterday. Are you happy?"  
"Yes."  
"Then that's all that matters. Callen knew from the beginning and you're still alive. You know if Callen knows that Sam knows-"  
"It's Hetty. She doesn't know." He admitted.  
Sarah smiled and then started laughing. "Deeks, Hetty knows everything."  
"How?"  
"It's Hetty. The only places she doesn't have bugged are the bathrooms and out here."  
"Wait when you mean everything you mean-"  
"_Everything_."  
"But that's-that's."  
"Deeks, has Hetty given you any indication that she knows?"  
"No."  
"She may not approve, but she believes in having a team that gets along, and is happy. Hetty has faith in you Deeks. Sign the damn application!"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah and Callen walked up to the door of Sam's house. "Are you sure about this?" She asked.

"You'll be great." He knocked on the door and then opened it. "Honey I'm home." He said loudly as they walked in the house.

Sam's wife walked out of the kitchen wiping her hands on the towel. "Well it's about time you got here." She hugged Callen. She then took him by the arm. "Now I need you to go out and rescue dinner I really don't want pizza tonight. You know where the fire extinguisher is if it gets out of control." She said taking him to the back door leaving Sarah there. She saw Sam's wife look back and wink at her.

"Fire extinguisher?" Callen asked. He knew that it got bad but not that bad.

"Yes. Go out so us girls can talk about you two." she smiled.

"Honey?"

"Don't worry G I'll take care of her." She whispered and pushed him out the door. She shut it and locked it behind him.

She turned, leaned up against the door and sighed. "There." She smiled at Sarah. "So you're Sarah." she said walking up to her. "My name is Miranda but everyone calls me Honey."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Believe me you do not want to be out there while Sam is trying to grill. Sam can save the world but he cannot cook worth a damn." She laughed.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen watched Sam attempt to grill chicken. "You know you need to turn that over."

Sam glared at him.

Callen shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just sayin'." He went to get a beer out of the cooler.

"Where is Sarah?" Sam asked.

"She's talking to Honey in the kitchen."

"Maybe you should be in there with her." He sounded annoyed.

Callen grabbed the bottle opener. "She locked the door on me."

Sam smiled. "And that surprises you?" He asked.

"That Honey is questioning my girl-"

"What?"

"Nothing." Callen said quickly.

"Ah HA! You said it."

"No I didn't." Callen closed his eyes.

"So she's your girl?" Sam smiled.

"Yes. No. I don't know. You're burning the chicken."

"Stop changing the subject." Sam said.

"Fine. I'll just sit here, drink my beer, and let you get in trouble." He sat in the lawn chair.

"I can cook." Sam said trying to convince himself.

Callen laughed. "You _burn _eggos!"

"Only because you took the toaster apart the night before." Sam defended himself.

Callen knew that he was going to be blamed for this again. "That had nothing to do with it and the chicken is now-"

Sam walked away from the grill pointing the grill tongs at him. "You neglected to put one of the springs back in the toaster."

Callen stood up. "All of them were back in!"

As they continued arguing Honey opened the door watched them and the dinner on the grill that was going to be ruined if she didn't say something.

"Samuel Hanna!" Honey said.

"What!" He looked over at her. He hated being called Samuel and she knew it.

She looked at him and then looked at Callen who was trying not to laugh. Callen's smile had him look like a little boy getting away with something.

Sam took a breath to try and calm down. "I'm sorry Honey. What?"

"The chicken is on fire." She told him calmly and then walked back inside.

He turned to look at some of the pieces on fire. Callen was telling the truth. "Oh crap." He tried to move the meat around "It's your fault." he said fighting the chicken that was now sticking to the grill.

"My fault? I warned you."

"Yeah whatever" Sam said trying to save dinner now.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Honey closed the door and started laughing. "God I've missed him."

"They're worse at work." Sarah said watching from the window over the sink.

"Hetty has told me." She said admitting the secret that she had kept from her husband for over two years.

"You've met Hetty?" She was surprised.

"About two years ago it was shortly after G was shot. Sam was not taking what happened very well. She wanted to make sure that he was okay." Honey had not told Sam that she still met with Hetty.

"Have you met anyone else from the team?" Sarah asked.

"No but I've heard about them. The thing about Sam is he's a very private person. Believes in protecting the family from what he does."

"I do the same."

Honey watched men arguing again on a totally different subject. "G is the only one who can get Sam like that. Which is nice since he takes things very seriously."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"So how do you think they are getting along." Callen asked.

They heard the laughter of the women from the open window. "I think they are getting along great." Sam said quietly.

Callen looked at him. "Why are you pouting?"

"I'm not pouting." He said turning the chicken over.

Then it all came together. "You did this to impress her."

"Who?"

"Sarah."

"Why would you care G? It's not she's your girl or anything." Sam said knowing that Callen would take the bait.

Callen took a hold of the grill tongs and pushed him aside. "Well maybe I've changed my mind. You have your own."

"Maybe I can have two."

Callen laughed. "Bring that up with Honey I'm sure she'll agree to that."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"You and G get everything straightened out?" Sam asked sitting across from her across from Sarah at the picnic table after dinner. He didn't see her much after her talk with Hetty.

She took the badge out of her back pocket and placed it on the table. "I'm now an Agent."

"Really? How did you do that?" Sam asked since Hetty didn't say anything after she got back after from finding them. He didn't ask G because he knew that he wouldn't tell him anything.

"I had to prove it to him. I have a test that I have my students do before they perform and I told him that if he didn't believe it I would agree with his recommendation."

"You proved him wrong." He smiled.

"Yes. But Director Vance told Hetty that he wanted this done right away so it didn't matter what Callen said."

"But you still proved him wrong. What was the song?" He asked.

"Whatever Lola wants."

"From Damn Yankees."

She was impressed that he knew the show. "The one and only. What we didn't know is that Hetty saw the entire performance."

"Hetty saw you sing that song to G." Sam said.

"Yes" Sarah said wishing she was drinking something stronger than water now.

"Hetty saw you trying to seduce G."

She put the drink down. "I wasn't seducing I was..." She paused trying to find a better word "persuading."

"Seducing." Now he knew why Hetty was pissed when she walked in but cooled down quickly when she walked into her office. "Did it work?" He asked.

"If you're asking me if I finally proved to him that I can be an agent then yes. If you're asking if I was successful in 'seducing' him that is a no."

"Because you're not done yet." He told her.

She sat there and tried to look shocked. "Sam Hanna I'm shocked that you would think that innocent little me." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He rolled his eyes. "I saw you sing the other night. We have all seen the looks between you two. You could've had him that night at the boathouse if you didn't allow him to be a gentleman."

"Sam!" Now she began to blush.

"He is trusts you Sarah. Skipping dinner at my house to see you sing. Looking for you and letting you prove to him that you can do it and not drag you back to the office which he would have done to anyone else. Meeting my my wife? Yeah he's overprotective of you because he doesn't want you to get hurt."

"I'm a big girl." Sarah said.

"I know. But this is a side of G Callen I have never seen."

"What side is this?" Sarah asked.

"A man who is falling for you."

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Callen helped Honey clean up the kitchen. She watched him put the dishes in the dishwasher and keep an eye out on Sam and Sarah outside at the picnic table.

"You don't have to do this." She told him.

"I know."

"You're not grounded because you haven't stopped by for about two weeks." Honey was beginning to wonder what was going on and why he volunteered to help her out.

"I know."

She stood there and looked at him. "You want to know if I approve."

"Yeah." He smiled.

She put the beer away. "I like her."

"Really?"

"Yes. She's great. But there's something that I want to know."

"What?"

"What is it about her?" Honey asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Is it because she's a good singer? That she has a voice of an angel? That she can pick out all the agents in the room? She can sneak out of a two story house without making a sound? That she can shoot left or right handed? That she can kick Deeks ass?"

He smiled. "Sam has talked about her."

"Constantly." She would almost be jealous about him talking about another woman but seeing how Callen and Sarah interacted during dinner she knew that she had nothing to worry about. She was serious now. "What is it about her G?"

He went wiped down the counter and sat down at the table "She triggered a memory." He finally admitted to her.

She tried to hide her smile. "Really? When did she do that?"

"The first time I saw her sing it was a couple of days before Halloween."

"What was the song?" She asked.

He sighed "Love Will Keep us Together. Amy loved that song when we were kids it drove me nuts. That song was playing the day we went to the beach."

"Does Sarah know about what happened in Romania and everything about Hetty?" Honey asked.

"She knows parts."

"It's best that she doesn't know all of it." She didn't even know all of it. Just remembered the feeling of dread when Sam sent her a text before he left. _'Love you Honey.'_ was all it said. She knew if she got that text it was serious.

"How are the nightmares?" She asked.

"Still have them." Callen admitted.

"Still dream that she's dead?"

He nodded.

"Have you had one in the past couple of days?" She asked.

"Not as bad as they could be."

He looked out the window when he heard Sarah laugh. Sam and she were still at the picnic table talking. He knew that Sam was probably telling her some embarrassing story about him.

Honey looked at him and realized he was finally happy. "Does she know?"

"What?"

"That you're falling in love with her?" Honey smiled.

"I'm not falling in love with her." He denied.

"No." he finally said.

"Tell her how you feel. Show her because if you let her go Sam's going to kill you."

"I told myself after-"

"I know. But that wasn't your fault. She made that decision." Honey was the only one he told about that past love. Not even Sam knew about the woman who made him swear off women with handcuffs.

"And paid with her life."

"She saved yours. She would want you to live again G. She would want you to love again."

He put the washcloth in the sink. "You know someday Nate is going to be calling you."

"Why?" Honey asked.

"To see why out of every one in this merry band of misfits of a family that I have you are the one who can get me to realize what the hell I want." He kissed her cheek. "Thanks." He opened the door to the back yard.

"Anytime." she smiled.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen got out of the car and did not believe what Sarah just told him. "No."

"Yes." She smiled.

"Honey did not tell you that." He still couldn't believe it.

"Yes, she did." She said.

"Sam Hanna."

"Yes."

"My partner. Big guy." He walked up the porch steps.

"Yes."

"Wears red a lot, Navy Seal, and a badass."

"Yes!" She was now laughing.

"Takes a bubble bath once a week" He unlocked the door and opened it for her.

"Twice a week." She said walking in.

He laughed "Even better." Walking in after her and closing the door.

She put her purse on the stairs and turned around. "You're not going to say anything."

"Not yet." He smiled.

"Callen. No you can't!"

"Sarah, if she didn't want anyone to know she would not have told you."

She stood there stunned. "So this was a test?"

"In a way yes it was." Callen said.

"Did I pass?" She walked back to him.

"Yes you did." He put his arms around her.

"Good." She kissed him.

He heard the door lock clicked. She was going to make sure that no one was going to interrupt them this time. She took him by the hand and walked towards the bedroom.

She turned to him and he kissed her. "Callen" she whispered in his ear. "If your phone rings I'm throwing it out the window."

He took it out, put it on silent and placed it on the entry way table by the stairs. He kissed her again, heard her moan softly as she pulled him into the bedroom, and closed the door.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Marty Deeks woke up to his phone ringing. "Yeah." He didn't bother looking at the time or who it was he just assumed it would be Eric calling them on a case. He reached over to wake Kensi and realized that the warm body next to him was not Kensi but Monty. Once again the mutt was in between them and hogging the bed. Monty groaned, got up, and moved to the foot of the bed.

"Deeks its Steve Bury."

"Hey Steve what's up?" He looked at the clock and saw it was three a.m. '_Nothing good if he's calling me at this hour'_ he thought. He touched Kensi's shoulder and she groaned. He got up and started getting dressed while holding the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"There's something going on and I'm pretty sure it's connected to the Burgess Case." Steve said.

"Okay where are you?"

"At the bar where Sarah was at the other night."

"Will be right there." He was already dressed by the time he got off the phone. He put the phone in his back pocket and saw Kensi getting up.

"There's something going on with Sarah's case." He said making sure he had everything that he needed.

She got up and started getting dressed. Grabbed a rubber band on the nightstand and put her hair in a ponytail." What do we know?"

"Not much."

"That's not good." She looked around for her shoes.

"I know." he handed them to her.

"Do you think we should call Callen?" She asked knowing that if they did Sarah would want to be there.

"No but we better call Sam."

"You owe me coffee for waking him up." she said.

"Okay."

"Eggs, bacon, toast."

"Done."

She stopped in front of the door and looked at him "and a kiss" she smiled.

"Done." He kissed her. She felt her knees go weak. With the men she had been with no one had ever made her weak in the knees like he did.

"We have to go." He said not wanting to stop. If someone would've told him a two years ago that Kensi would be his partner for work and personal life he would of told them they were out of their mind. "Guard the house Monty." he said to the sleeping dog who stretched out across the bed and started to snore.

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	13. Chapter 9

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I do not own NCIS:LA. Sarah is mine.

Thanks for all the reviews and favorites.

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Honey you are a rock Upon which I stand  
And I come here to talk I hope you understand  
That green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you  
And how could, anybody, deny you  
I came here with a load And it feels so much lighter, now I've met you  
And honey you should know, that I could never go on without you

"Green Eyes" By Coldplay

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**Chapter 9**

Sarah woke up to the sound of the shower running and smiled when she realized what happened was not a dream. Sitting up she could see in the dim light clothes still all over the floor. She remembered his kisses slowly all over her body, Callen wanting to know every inch of her and driving her crazy before making love to her. His arms wrapped around her, feeling his breath on her neck as she fell asleep.

She got out of bed and walked across the room to join him when her phone went off. "Damn it!" She looked and finally found her phone on the floor by the dresser.

"Hello?" She said hoping it didn't get to voice mail yet.

"Sarah, where in the hell are you?" Sam said.

"I'm at the house." She didn't like the sound of panic in his voice.

"Is G there?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I just turned onto the street meet me at the door." He hung up.

She went to the closet, grabbed the terrycloth robe, put it on put on and tied it as she hurried to the front door.

She opened the door and saw the look on his face as he walked up the stairs to the door. "What's wrong?" She asked as he walked in.

"Where's G?" He asked.

She closed the door. "He's...in the shower." It was then that they both realized that she was wearing a robe and nothing more. She gathered the fabric a little closer to her neck. "I'll go and get him." She turned and walked over to the entry table, picked up Callen's phone, and quickly went into the bedroom.

The water was off and she knocked on the door. Callen opened the door wearing just a towel. "Hey," he pulled her in and kissed her. His he started to untie her robe. "There's still hot water" He whispered in her ear. She felt his mouth travel down her neck making her knees go weak. "We could-"

She put her hands on his chest and pushed away slightly. "Sam's here." She said.

"What?" He asked.

"He said he's been trying to get a hold of you. He called me on my phone." She told him as she put his phone on the counter and tied her robe back up. He looked at his phone and saw the missed calls and texts "Shit. I'll be out in a minute."

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Minutes later Callen walked out of the bedroom and saw Sam pacing by the front door "What's wrong?"

"There's a break in Sarah's case." Sam said quietly seeing Sarah at the doorway.

"What happened?" Callen asked.

"Another woman was attacked. There is a good chance that it's connected to the case. The officer at the scene was there the other night called Deeks. Kensi called me on the way over there." He looked at Callen. "Why didn't you answer your phone?" He asked.

"I turned the volume off." Callen said.

He looked at Callen in shock. "You what?"

"I-"

"It's my fault Sam." Sarah spoke up and stood between them. "I asked him to. I'm sorry we worried everyone."

He looked at her and knew that it was a mistake. The look of panic on her face told him that she knew that something bad happened. "It's okay Sarah." But she knew that it wasn't.

She walked to Callen. "I'm going to change in something less embarrassing." she said.

He took her hand, "It's not your-"

"Never be unreachable." She whispered and walked away.

Sam waited until she shut the door to the bedroom. "G."

"Don't start Sam." But he knew that he would not stop.

"You have got to be an agent first and her boyfriend-"

"I said _don't_ start Sam."

"Why in the hell would you-" His phone rang and he got it on the first ring. "Yeah," He paused and looked at G "They're here and they're alright." He listened. "Fine." He said and hung up. "Kensi and Deeks are on the way, they need to talk to Sarah."

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"No no no no!" She whispered taking off her robe and getting into the shower. She closed her eyes as the water hit the back of her shoulders. _Memories of pain shot through her body as the bullet hit her shoulder. Her partner ordering her to go when she wanted to stay and be with him. "Don't have her lose two agents in one night." He told her._

_Running for her life in the woods. _

_A man standing in the middle of the highway with his hand out to her. "I promise I will protect you. They will not hurt you." _

_Waking up in the hospital seeing Gibbs sitting there. He was angry "You got yourself shot and another agent killed because you thought with your heart and not your head." Gibbs words came back to her. She was unreachable. She was careless and didn't think._

"No. Please no."

The pain. The faces. The disappointment. The cold hard stares that he gave her.

"Shit" She said as she turned off the water, got out of the shower and dried off. She pulled on a pair of jeans, sweatshirt, wrapped her hair in a ponytail and looked in the mirror. The happiness that she felt less than thirty minutes ago was gone. Now there was the endless pit in her stomach filled with dread.

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Callen walked out to meet Kensi and Deeks as they got out of the car. "What's going on?" He asked Kensi.

"We need to ask Sarah a couple of questions." She said.

Callen looked to see a car slowly pulling up.

"It's Officer Bury he's married to Sarah's assistant. Found out that he has known Sarah for a couple of years. His wife is her assistant at the college." Deeks said watching Callen's reaction.

"Why didn't she tell us that she knew him?" Kensi asked.

"Keep personal and business lives separate." Callen said. The officer wasn't being a jerk because they were arguing he was scared because he knew Sarah. "How bad?" He asked.

"Pretty bad," Kensi admitted.

"Can't talk about it out here Callen, we should get inside." Deeks said walking to the door.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Kensi, Deeks, and Callen walked in to find Sarah in the living room wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.

"Hey Sarah, we have a couple of questions for you." Deeks sat across from her.

"Okay." Callen sat next to her and held her hand.

"Sam told you that there was another attack at the bar."

"Yes and it's connected to the case? How is that possible when the guy is arrested? He wasn't released was he?" She asked.

"No he's still in jail." Deeks said.

"Then what is going on?" Callen asked.

This was always the toughest part being a cop. But it was worse because Sarah had come into their lives. "The person who was attacked was at the bar around nine. It happened around eleven. She was walking to her car. People who saw her leave said that she did leave alone. Someone found her about fifteen minutes later. The police were called and I got a call from Steven. We're pretty sure they are connected but we need you to identify her."

Deeks took the picture out of the folder. "This is the woman." He handed the picture of the woman's driver's license. "Do you know her?" Deeks asked.

Callen felt her hand let go of his. "Yes." she whispered.

"Who is it?" Deeks asked.

"It's April."

"April?" Callen asked her.

"She was with me the other night." She said. "She works in the English Department."  
"This is more than purse snatching G." Sam said looking out the window. "We may have to move both of you."

"Yeah," He said watching her just look at her friend's picture.

"How did she die?" Sarah asked quietly, seeing the tears on the picture.

"We're waiting on that information." Deeks said seeing Sam opening the front door. Callen looked at Deeks and wondered what the hell was going on now.

"How did she die?" She asked louder and feeling her hands started to shake.

"We'll talk about it at the office." Deeks told her knowing that she was not going to take these excuses for very long.

Sarah glared Deeks "Damn it stop treating me like I'm the victim!"

Callen touched her shoulder "You are the victim. This is now connected to your case."

She stood up "Until Director Vance says I'm off the case I'm part of this team. Now tell me how did she die?"

"They broke her neck." Steven Bury said walking in and standing next to Sam.

"For the love of..." Callen closed his eyes.

"Thank you Steven." She said. "Where is Jenn?"

He walked into the living room "On her way to her Mom's in Arizona with the kids taking every back road she can find. She has been calling me every twenty minutes."

"Good." She walked out of the room.

"Want to tell us what's going on?" Sam asked him.

"There may be a break in the case. I'm sorry I was asked by Hetty not to say anything until we get there."

"But you told her how April died." Kensi said.

"If didn't know her I would not have."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah prayed that Callen would not follow her as she left the room. She ran into the bathroom, closed the door and barely made it to the toilet before she threw up. There wasn't much in her stomach as she grabbed the counter for support.

"I'm so sorry April." She whispered. "I'm so sorry" She heard someone knocking on the bathroom door. "Just a minute" She said trying to sound normal and praying that she wouldn't get sick in front of them. She got up and sat on the edge of the tub. "Come in."

Deeks saw her sitting on the edge of the tub, elbows on her knees, and her hands covering her face. He stood there watching her knowing too well how she felt. He did the same exact thing when he found out that Tess Traynor was killed.

"How could I have been so stupid?" She said more to herself than to them as they opened the drawers.

He walked over to the sink and turned the water on "Because you're falling in love with him."

"I shouldn't be." She said feeling her stomach twist again.

"But you are." He told her handing her the washcloth. She sat up and looked at Deeks. "And that's what got her killed." She took the cloth and wiped her face.

"You cannot blame yourself about this Sarah. We asked you not to contact anyone."

"The look that Sam had when he got here, he was pissed"

"He was worried." He told her.

"They argued."

"They argue over who shot first Han or Greedo, don't worry about them."

"Three other women were attacked. The one before me died"

"After the person beat her severely," He sat down next to her on the edge of the tub.

"All I needed to do was just text her and say I'm okay. Then she would not have gone there and..."

"Someone else would have been hurt." He knew that this was not working. "Last year I was deep undercover for LAPD for a human trafficking case. My partner was killed. Seventeen hours before I was nearly killed when I went to put in the code for an apartment gate that was malfunctioning and the car exploded. After waking up I tried to call her but I was too late."

He looked at his hands still seeing some of the scars that he had "I felt guilty for a long time after that. Even after getting the one responsible later that day."

"What are you trying to tell me Deeks?"

"That you need to not feel guilty about something you had no control of."

"Again all I needed to do was tell her that I was okay!"

He sighed and knew that Callen was going to be pissed but she needed to know. "There is a chance she might have known them."

"What?"

"We're going over the tapes again and Hetty wants you to take a look at them when we get there."

"So I'm still on the case?" She asked.

"I think as long as you are focused on getting April's killer you should be on the case." He hoped he was telling her the truth.

"Wanting them to be arrested and not killed."

He nodded. "So what are we going to do about this Batgirl?" he asked standing up and holding his hand out to help her stand.

She took his hand and looked at him in the eyes. "Get the Bastard."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~


	14. Chapter 10

This chapter has mentions of Season 1 Episode 8 called Ambush.  
**Flashback in this chapter**  
I don't own NCIS:LA or characters. I do own Sarah.

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And I don't want the world to see me  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's meant to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am

"Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls

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**Chapter 10**

Hetty walked up to Sarah and hugged her, "I'm so sorry," Hetty told Sarah an hour later at the Mission.

"Thanks."

"I have spoken to Director Vance. He told me that due to the circumstances, you are

now off the case."

"Good," Callen said quietly, from the bullpen.

"No. I want to be on the case. I want to find out why they are doing this."

Callen walked out of the bullpen, "They are doing this to flush you out."

"But I want to find out _why, _Callen. What did I do to them that was so horrible, that they did this to April? Those girls? To me? If they want a fight, they got one."

They stood there watching her walk up the stairs. "Is she always this stubborn?" Callen asked with a slight smile on his face.

"I think you've met your match Mr. Callen," Hetty smiled and went upstairs to Ops.

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"What do we got, Eric?" Sarah asked, walking into the room.

"Got the footage from tonight from LAPD, with the help of Officer Bury. There is some other footage that we found out while looking into the case."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Something that Hetty wants you to look at when she gets here," he handed her the tablet.

As the door opened Eric and Nell walked out, and Hetty walked in.

"What's going on, Hetty?" Sarah asked, not liking the worried look on her face.

"I wanted you to see this before the others. This was recorded three months ago," Hetty pulled up the video.

_Malcolm Tallridge Leader of the ELE walked into the visitors area of the Federal Prison and sat down in the chair._

"_You have ten minutes," the guard said._

"_Do I know you?" Tallridge asked, after the guard left._

"_It's been a long time, Sir," the younger man said to him._

"_Gabriel Reardon? It's been a long time," Tallridge smiled._

"_I know," Reardon nodded._

"_You look good. How did you find me? Why are you here?"_

"_I still have some contacts. They told me about what happened two years ago and that you were here. I have a question. If you had a chance to finish a job that you had years ago would you do it?"_

"_What do you mean?" Tallridge asked._

"_I found a loose end. I want to know if I should finish it?" Reardon looked around, "From West Virginia."_

_Tallridge looked at him in shock and then hid expression, as he knew the cameras were watching, "Look son, you're not a kid anymore."_

"_I haven't been a kid since you put a gun in my hand that night and told me to take care of that business."_

"_Just remember what you are asking me. If you think you found a loose end it's your choice not mine. I'm stuck in here, I can't get involved."_

"_I understand," Reardon got up, "It's good to see you, Sir."_

"_But," Tallridge said, looking down at the table, "If it's who I think you are talking about, I personally would go for it, and not hold back."_

_Reardon stopped, turned around and smiled, "Thank you."_

The tape stopped and Hetty looked at Sarah. Her face was as white as a sheet as she looked at the faces that haunted her dreams for years.

"Sarah?"

Sarah opened up the file and looked at reports, "Two years ago you went to Washington DC for a meeting you came back you told me that you were informed by Director Vance that Malcolm Tallridge was caught. After ten years the person responsible for Dan's death would rot in jail for the rest of his life," Sarah said calmly. "Gabriel was just a child, barely eighteen years old and Tallridge had him..."

"I know Sarah,"

She pulled up the picture from the file. "You told me that if Tallridge got any visitors they would have background checks to see if they were former members."

"Yes," Hetty said.

She walked over to the table, "Then how did he get by?"

"It was a mistake," Hetty told her knowing that the answer was unacceptable.

"A mistake? This mistake is now partially responsible for everything that is going on now Hetty. This mistake got April killed!" She took the mug on the table and threw it against the door.

"You think I don't know that? You weren't the only one who was hurt in all of this Sarah. Every time I send out an agent out I worry if they are going to come back or not?" She walked over to Sarah, "I'm just as angry as you are of what happened to Dan," She said quietly knowing that the others would be coming up to Ops to see what was going on, "He did not deserve to die like that but we cannot think about that right now. We need to figure out how to get this guy before he hurts someone else." Hetty watched her knowing that if Sarah walked out that door no one would be able to stop her. "I need you to focus Agent Burgess because if you don't I will be forced to take you off this case."

Sarah took a deep breath, nodded, and looked at the screen, "That was filmed three months ago?"

"Yes."

"A month before the girls started getting attacked," Sarah pulled up the footage in the bar of when the victims left, including hers. Reardon walked over and dialed a number for all of them except for April, whom he followed out the door.

"Why didn't he just do it himself instead of having someone try to steal my purse? Why did he have those other girls attacked? He knew I was there twice a week. He saw me and had the chance."

"Because he wanted to see if you would notice and probably also knows that Sam and Callen were there when you were attacked." Hetty said, looking at the footage repeating of April walking out the door and Reardon following her, "How do you want to do this, Agent Burgess?"

She sighed, "Give me some time to gather the information. I need to do this alone."

"You don't have to do this alone, Sarah. You have a team," Hetty told her.

"My team is waiting for me to get back so they can be taught and we can get a show together to perform in six weeks. Your team will help me when I am ready. I need to do this part by myself right now," she said.

"I'll let you get to work," Hetty handed her a bright pink flash drive.

Sarah looked at it and was not surprised, "Steven wasn't supposed to give you this unless I was dead," she said, as Hetty walked to the door.

"He knew when you gave it to him that it was probably important. Don't be mad at him."

"It saves me a call to Director Vance."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen stood by the stairs as Hetty walked out of Ops.

"Yes, Mr. Callen?"

"How is she?"

"She'll be fine when all of this is over." She assured him walking down the steps.

"What's going on Hetty?"

She stopped and turned around, "We have a break in the case, and she's getting the information together."

"So that's why Eric's mug went flying across the room. Why are keeping her on the case?" He asked.

"I would rather her be on the case so I can keep track of her, than have her go on her own."

"I don't like it." He said now hearing music being played Ops.

"I don't either but I know she can do the job."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Two hours later Sarah stood by the screen as everyone walked into the Ops room.  
"Go ahead, Agent Burgess," Hetty told her.

"Our suspect's name is Gabriel Reardon. He works as a busboy over at Lonigan's Bar for the past six months. When he was seventeen he was reported by his parents as a runaway. He ended up in West Virginia and joined the militia group ELE."

"We cannot get away from them," Sam said.

"You know them?" Sarah asked, knowing that Tallridge was caught two years ago, but had no idea it was Hetty's team that got them.

"Two years ago we got the leader of the group Malcolm Tallridge. The ELE was stealing dragon missiles from Camp Pendleton," Sam informed her.

"The NCIS mission back in 1999 was a two person op. One on the inside with the ELE who had been there for almost a year, and the other one that got the information and was to get their partner out when the time came. A month before the mission was over their Handler was transferred. Their new handler was an up and coming agent, who wanted to prove that he could get it done, and he claimed that they were working to slow getting the information."

"Didn't that idiot know that you can't rush crazy?" Deeks asked.

"No. There were mistakes from the agents and the Handler. In the end Malcolm Tallridge and other higher ups escaped and got to start their own groups over all over the country."  
"Three weeks before the raid the agent's Handler forced the agent gathering information in as a possible supplier. She did not stay at the camp but they were supposed to bring their contact in for making the deal."  
"What about Reardon?" Sam asked.  
"Reardon looked up to the agent in the camp. That agent went up the ranks quickly and became a trusted inside member of Tallridge. Reardon also became friends with the supplier. Both agents had to act like they hated each other. He had made it known that he didn't trust her. She had held her own against Tallridge and the others. Three days before NCIS was supposed to raid, the group had a gathering for Reardon's eighteenth birthday, he saw her walk into the woods. He wondered what was going on since an hour before she told him that they were not feeling that well and left. Reardon followed her and found the two agents together. For two people who put on the act that they hated each other they...didn't act like it when he saw them in the clearing of the woods."

"They were involved?" Kensi asked.

"Yes, Gabriel was hurt and instead of confronting them he went to Tallridge. The next day they got the female agent and questioned her. Roughed her up a bit and when she told him to go to hell he shot her."  
"Right shoulder?" Sam asked.  
She closed her eyes, "Yes."  
"Are you sure she should be doing this?" Nate asked Hetty quietly.  
"She needs to for him," Hetty said.  
"They brought Sullivan over to question me."  
"Sullivan?" Kensi asked, "Your Agent Sullivan, Hetty?"  
Hetty nodded.

"I passed out from the pain and woke up with a hood over my head. I heard Tallridge and Sullivan talking. Dan- Agent Sullivan, took the hood off and stayed undercover said that he knew it was me and he knew that they shouldn't have trusted me. But in his eyes I could see was all that he wanted to get me the hell out of there. Tallridge handed him the gun and told him to finish me off."

"What did he do?" Callen asked.  
"He made the mistake in trying to reason with him. Sullivan told me one night a couple of months before that he witnessed an argument between Tallridge and a potential second in command. The man tried to reason with Tallridge and he was killed. So when Sullivan refused Tallridge shot him in the stomach. He told his second in command to finish us off. I was untied from the chair and was on the ground next to Sullivan. Tallridge took Reardon back to camp. He didn't want the kid to see to us get killed."  
"Yet he had him involved with what happened," Kensi said.  
"And saw two people get shot," Deeks said.  
"His Second in command waited until they were in the woods. Dan told me a week before that he had been wearing his gun for the past week because something was going on. The man told us to have fun in hell together. I grabbed Sullivan's gun, shot him in the head and told him you first." She closed her eyes.  
"Left handed," Sam asked.  
"Yes."  
"Good girl," Deeks said.  
Callen realized that she was about to tell him what happened the other night but he wouldn't hear it. He walked up to her and just stood there.  
Her hands began to shake, "I tried to save him. I tried to take him with me... he wouldn't go...Told me to not have Hetty lose two agents in one night...I tried to save him," tears streamed down her face. Emotions were beginning to flood and she just prayed that she would be able to stop it.  
He touched her face, "It's okay."  
She looked at Hetty, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she began to cry and he held her in his arms.  
"It's okay," he repeated.  
She held onto him tight, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," he held her to support her up, and ended up on the floor with her in his arms.  
"It's okay," he told her again, and kissed her forehead.  
Hetty looked at Sam and nodded to have him to have everyone leave the room. She stood there watching them holding each other. Callen whispered in Sarah's ear comforting her. The trust between them was now sealed. The anger, sadness, and the past that she buried so deep was now being shown, but this time she had someone to get her through it. Hetty turned and walked out the door leaving them alone.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

When Hetty got to her office Kensi, Sam, Deeks and Nate were standing at her desk.  
"Yes?"  
"How is she?" Kensi asked.  
"She has finally let out emotions that she has never let surface, in over ten years. It will be rough for a while, but they will be fine."  
"Are they going to be on the case?" Sam said.  
She sat down at her desk, "What do you all think we should do?"  
"It will help her with letting go of the past and moving on," Kensi said.  
"But what if something happens? What if Reardon kills her?" Hetty asked.  
"Reardon will not be breathing if that happens," Sam told everyone.  
"I know I probably should not have told her this when I checked on her, after she heard how April died, but I told her the only way that she could even be on the case, is if she promised to get him alive." Deeks admitted.  
"Why did you tell her that?" Sam asked, slightly annoyed that he waited until now to tell everyone this.  
"Because it got her to stop feeling guilty about something that she could not control for a while, and sometimes that one little glimmer of hope helps to get them back in the game. That was the only thing that got me though after Tess Trainer was killed." He admitted.  
"What do you think, Nate?" Hetty asked.  
"Sarah needs closure. This is part of her past that she buried deep and she is finally ready to move on. I'm still amazed that she did that, most people would have not made it. She has lost so much during her life, but now she has Callen," he told her, "Callen on the case is going to be more difficult. Since she was involved with her partner the last time she is going to worry more about him, and that might take her focus off Reardon. It may get her hurt. In the short time that Sarah has been in his life, Callen has learned to trust. That's something you have wanted him to do for years. If something happens to her he will kill him."  
"Do you all think that way?" Hetty asked them all.  
They nodded.  
"I will see how he does the next couple of days. If I have to, I will pull him off at the last minute."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah sat there in his arms feeling his hand stroking her hair. They had not talked for several minutes.

"Hetty didn't know how deep your involvement with Agent Sullivan was."

"The only person who did know was Gibbs. We didn't mean for it to happen." She admitted.

"You were his constant. You kept him grounded."

"I got him distracted," she said, looking at him. She got up and looked at Sullivan's picture on the screen, "We looked beyond the mission. That night I told him that NCIS was going to raid in three days, and that I was pregnant. He was happy. Told me that after the mission we were going to quit, go to Montana, he would take over his Dad's business and I would go teach. Leave secret squirrel life behind. I was only six weeks pregnant. He wanted me off the case but I told him I would be okay."

"What happened after Sullivan told you to leave?" He asked.

"I ran into the woods. I knew that part of the woods like the back of my hand because I was the one who was supposed to get him out. I was halfway through the woods and I stopped. I wanted to turn around and go back to him. I heard a gunshot and I knew that Dan was dead. I went back to running. I made it to the road and I just started walking."

"A Doctor on his way home found me, and it took him awhile to convince me to let him help me. He knew that there was a group nearby that had made some comments in town. He asked if I wanted him to contact anyone. I told him my 'brother' Gibbs, and then I passed out in his arms. When they got me to the ER I miscarried. They found Gibbs in Russia and he was there within two days. He told me of all the rules I broke, that Dan was gone, that..."  
"You lost so much that night," he sat down next to her.

"We fought. I didn't want to hear any more so I pulled out the IVs and went to leave. I was already beating myself up about it and I didn't need Gibbs to tell me what I already knew. Gibbs grabbed my right arm by accident as I lunged forward to get away ripping out all the stitches and I turned and punched him in the jaw. The Doctor told him that it would be better if he wasn't in my room anymore. He called Hetty and sat outside my room until she arrived. When she arrived, he went back to Russia."

Callen smiled, "He told me that he got into a bar fight."

"We made up two months later. Hetty had us in a room for two days and the truth came out. He felt responsible for what happened and for leaving us. He also felt responsible because he promised my Dad that he would keep an eye on me two weeks before he died."  
"Your handler after Gibbs is an idiot." Callen looked in the file to see who it was.  
"That idiot has gone up the NCIS ladder and has protected his ass ever since."

"Well let's hope I never meet him."

"I know you don't agree with this, Callen, but I have to do this. I have to get Reardon, and put him in jail for what he did to April and to Dan," she got up and went to the phone, "Yeah it's me. We're fine, get the team up here so I can tell everyone how this is going to happen."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"So what's the plan?" Deeks asked.  
"This op will go on in two days. Kensi, Nell and I will go to the bar for girls night out. If anyone asks, I've taken a couple of days off. I will sing, and after 30 minutes Kensi and Deeks, who will be there working as a busboy will cause a distraction, and I will sneak out. Sam and Callen will be across the street from the car. The plan is to get him to follow me."

"No." Callen told her.

"It's been approved by Hetty and Director Vance." Sarah argued.

"This is not a good plan. You'll be alone."  
"I'll have three people with me at the bar, and you both will be watching."  
"I still don't like it."  
"Doesn't matter if you like it or not, Agent Callen, I'm lead on this one. This operation goes down on Tuesday, we will all meet here at 8:00, whether you are here or not," she told him, and walked out of ops.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Flashback May 1984 Gibbs and Sarah: day of the funeral.**

"_May I sit down?" He asked._

"_Sure." she moved over and he sat down next to her. _

"_How are you Sarah?" He asked her._

"_Fine," She said in her standard answer. Everything was fine. She was fine. Dinner was fine. The service was fine. She slept fine. As long as everyone accepted her answer and left her alone everything was fine._

"_Liar," he said._

_She looked at him. No one ever called her on it. Hetty and Mike would just nod and go with it. Other people would give her the look and change the subject._

"_You lost your Dad about a week ago. You've had to deal with relatives, friends, strangers, with no time to yourself. Everyone asks the same question and you get to the point where you give them and answer that will make them happy and hope that they leave you alone. So how are you Sarah?" Gibbs asked again._

_She sighed, "Shitty," She said._

_He tried to hide his look of surprise as she realized that she swore in front of an adult. The kid was opening up to him and he had a feeling she had not done that to anyone yet. He wasn't going to give her a speech about how she shouldn't swear she would clam up again and not trust him. "Go on," He said._

"_Everyone has been treating me like I'm a porcelain doll. I'm followed everywhere and told what to do. When to eat, when to sleep, told what to wear, what to say."_

_He just nodded, "Sucks doesn't it."_

"_My Aunt wrote the Eulogy."_

"_You didn't read it."_

"_I couldn't because it wasn't my words. It was written like I was five because that was the last time she saw me."_

"_The song was beautiful." _

"_Thanks," She sighed. "Now I have people arguing about what to do with me for the summer. It's like I'm not even there. No one has asked what I wanted to do."_

"_What are your options?"_

"_Staying with my grandparents over at a cottage in Wisconsin, which is fine but after a couple of weeks it gets boring. Hetty, my Godmother, told me that I could stay with her. My Aunt wants to send me to some all-girl camp that she went to when she was a kid because she wants me to make friends and to move on."_

"_What do you want to do?" He asked her_

"_I think I want to stay with Hetty."_

"_I think your Dad mentioned her a couple of times."_

"_She was friends with my Mom when they were kids. Mom died when I was eight." She looked at her hands._

"_I lost my Mom at that age too."_

"_It sucks," She said._

_He smiled. "Yes it does."_

Sarah walked outside in the courtyard, took out her phone, and dialed the number. If she was going to be required to talk to someone before the mission she was going to talk to the only one who would understand her.

"Gibbs."

"Hey," She said trying to sound like nothing was wrong.

"Hey, you're up early, what's up?"

"I-I to speak to someone before I go on this mission that is going to happen in two days." She began pacing.

"Okay," He paused. "Everything alright?" he asked.

"No," Her voice cracked.

"How are you Sarah?" He asked.

She smiled and wiped tears off her face "Shitty."

"Tell me _everything_."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Everything okay Boss?" DiNozzo asked when Gibbs walked back to his desk after taking the call.

Gibbs tossed his phone in his desk, "Yeah," He then started to feel it. It was different from the gut feeling he got from knowing if someone was telling the truth or not. His stomach started turning in knots. It felt like someone was trying to tell him something. Screaming at him to leave. He sat down trying to shake it off but it wouldn't go away. His heart started racing, his breathing got ragged, and had this urge to go to Los Angeles. He needed to get there and protect her even if Callen and the rest of the team would be there he needed to be there. He tried to shake it off again but it wouldn't go away.

"_If something happens to me I would like you to keep an eye on her," Sarah's Father asked him all those years ago._

"_Do you think something is going to happen to you?" Gibbs asked him._

"_You never know kid. I just need to be sure that she'll be okay."_

"_Why me?"_

"_Because sometimes you get a vibe about some people," he said looking at the beer glass. He looked up at him, "Just promise me that you will.'"_

The feeling was getting stronger. He tried to keep it out of his mind but he couldn't shake it. The conversation kept on nagging at him. _'Protect her'_ kept on repeating in his mind.

"You okay boss?" McGee asked looking worried.

"I'm fine," he said, then glanced at the picture of Sarah. Gibbs now knew what she meant by the difference between a gut feeling and a vibe. "DiNozzo take over," he grabbed his keys, phone, gun and badge.

"Where are you going?" Ziva asked, not liking the look on Gibbs' face.

"Someone is in trouble," he picked up the pace to the elevator.

"Who?" DiNozzo followed him.

"Sarah."

"Sarah? She's in town? Hang on I'll-"

"No. She's in Los Angeles," Gibbs kept on hitting the elevator button to go down.

"Then how do you know she's in trouble?" Ziva asked, catching up with them with McGee not too far behind.

He got on the elevator and looked at Tony knowing that he would understand what he was going to say. "I got a bad vibe," the doors shut and Ziva looked at Tony who looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Bad vibe?" Ziva asked.

"Oh crap," McGee said quietly.

Tony tried to hide his reaction to what Gibbs just said. "It's something Sarah gets. A bad vibe is different from a gut feeling. With Gibbs getting a bad vibe is not good."

"When was the last time Sarah got one of these 'bad vibes'?" she asked.

"2006. When Gibbs was injured in the boat explosion. I got a text from her five minutes after it happened asking me if everyone was alright."

"I hope he gets there in time," Ziva said.

"Me too."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Gibbs dialed the number as he went to his car.

"Yes, Gibbs." Hetty said answering on the first ring.

"Hetty, is this op is in two days?" He asked unlocking and getting into his car.

"Yes," She said quietly.

"I'm on my way," Gibbs told her.

There was a long pause, "There is a ticket waiting for you at the airport."

He started the car, "You felt it too?"

"No, I've seen her and...you need to be here Jethro," She finally admitted.

"Meet me at our usual place," Gibbs started the car.

"I will," Hetty said.

"She is more than ready to do this mission," Gibbs said driving.

"I will let Nate know."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

10


	15. Chapter 11

For some reason this chapter has been okay until it was time to go out. I had two versions for the ending and I basically got to the point where I asked the classic "Pick a number between 1 and 10" to my friend/editor/cheerleader Anthrdumblond. Thanks for not picking 5 because I really don't know what I would do! ;b

As always I do not own any of the characters from NCIS:LA. I do own Sarah.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Chapter 11**

_"You can't hide forever Sarah."_

"No," Sarah's eyes flew open. "No." She got up slowly as it took a couple of minutes to figure out where she was and how she got there. She started to remember; after she talked to Gibbs she went into hiding from everyone. Sam found her in the Armory shooting the hell out of paper targets.

He told her that she needed to go, that she wasn't going to be any good to anyone including herself if she didn't get some sleep. When she refused he told her that he was going to put her over his shoulder and drag her out if she didn't leave now. She finally gave in and left with Callen.

On the way back to the safe house the radio played softly and she felt her eyelids get heavy. She woke up briefly as Callen carried her into the house and into bed. She surprised him when she took his hand and asked him to stay. With his arms wrapped around her she finally fell into a deep sleep.

Now, after dreams that she thought were gone, she was up again with her pulse racing and her heart pounding hard it hurt her chest. "Just a dream," She told herself getting out of bed, going to the bathroom to splash some water on her face, and went to the kitchen.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

When she opened the door to the kitchen she found Callen sitting at the table with the toaster taken apart. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet when she saw the bottle of whiskey on the table, then went to the freezer for some ice.

"You alright?" He asked the look of concern on his face.

"I'm fine," she sat down, took the bottle and poured. "Dreams of the past," She told him before he could ask.

"You want to talk about it?"

She looked at the glass, "Not now. Still too fresh,"

"I understand," He told her.

"Something wrong with the toaster?" She asked.

"No," He said trying to put the spring back in. It slipped through his fingers flying across the room. He cursed softly.

She laughed.

He looked up and was glad he was seeing a smile on her face finally. He smiled back.

"You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine." She said.

He took a sip from his glass, "Romania."

"Hetty?"

He shook his head no, "My Mother."

"Your Mother was in Romania?"

He told her about his grandfather George Callen, about the family feud with the Comescu's, how when his grandfather was killed his Grandmother took his mother who was an infant and escaped to America. Then many years later, his Mother, joined the CIA where she met Hetty who was her handler. She was sent to Romania posing as a student for a mission. The first year went find and then suddenly disappeared only turning up five years later desperate to get out with her two children and they agreed to meet on the beach. He sat there for a long time in silence.

"What happened to your Mother Callen?"

"We were on the beach, she was reading a book and I was building a sandcastle when two men walked up to her. One man distracted me by giving me a tin soldier; the other man shot her in the chest."

"How old were you?"

"Three."

"You said that she had two children."

"I had a sister, her name was Amy. We somehow got separated. I only found out a year ago that she died when she was twelve," He told another sip from his glass, "Which reminds me I need to thank you."

"For what?"

"The song that you sang the night we met triggered a memory. It was my sister's favorite song."

"Thank Jenn and Steven it was their wedding song and they were crazy enough to get married on Halloween."

"How did they have that be their song?"

"Jenn got drunk after a party. It was on the radio and she started singing it over and over again. Then she told Steven that they should get married at the place where the party was."

"How long were they dating?"

"Two months." She sighed and drank the last of the whisky in her glass knowing that it was her turn, "It was the night where everything went to hell. I'm in the middle of the road and the Doctor who found me is trying to talk me into going with him. He assured me that he would protect me. He begs me to just take his hand. When I do he pulls me to him and I start to struggle. The more I struggle the more it feels like clamps are trying to hold me still. I try to scream and he covers my mouth. When I look up the Doctor's face changes to Dan's and he tells me that I can't hide forever." She got up and got a bottle water out of the fridge. "That's just one of the standard dreams I have about that night."

"What are the others?"

"The Doctor is part of it and I am shot, I'm shot instead of Dan and I tell him to go, Dan is so brainwashed he part of it. Then there is my favorite where Dan and I are able to get out together. We're free. We make it to the road and…" She couldn't finish.

"We always try to save the ones we love, even in our dreams."

"I was hoping this dream would be over,"

"It will be over, I promise."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The next day Sarah was standing in the bathroom looking in the mirror, "Up or down?" She asked him as she twisted her hair, put it up and looked in the drawer for a clip.

Callen looked up from his book and knew that she was already planning for the Op that was more than twenty-four hours away. "Up," He said putting the book down and got out of the chair.

She let her hair down looking frustrated, "I was thinking down," she brushed her hair again.

He walked over to the bathroom and stood in the doorway, "I like it up," he looked at her in the mirror.

"You want to see my neck," she said.

Callen walked behind her, wrapped his arm around her and moved her hair to the side, his mouth close to her neck, "No, but I'll nibble on your neck," As he did she laughed.

"Callen, I need to figure this out," She said trying to move away.

"You have time," He said.

"I know, but little things I get done the better I will feel when Sam comes over tomorrow," she looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"You have time," He whispered.

"But I-"

He turned her around so she was looking into his eyes. "We have time," He assured her.

She smiled, "We have time," She said and closed the door.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

She felt his hand slowly went up her calf, over her knee and down her thigh. Crossing over her stomach his fingers traced the pattern by her right hip. He looked up at her being deliriously happy. Her arms bent with her hands under her head. "When did you get this tattoo?" he asked looking at the purple rose tattoo by her right hip.

"2010, after I got back from Ireland. I stayed there for about three months. Hetty and I have a contact there. Both Hetty and Gibbs told me to go away for a while that summer."

He thought about what happened that summer, "Good idea," he said. "And this one?" He asked kissing the Celtic heart knot tattoo on her left hip.

She tried to think, "D.C. Six months ago. Abby and I went out to dinner the night I was supposed to leave."

"Thank you Abby Shiuto," He kissed it again and smiled.

She reached down, cupped his chin, pulled him to her and kissed him. She looked into his eyes. Her hands traced all over his face. Her fingers then went to his chin and then over a small scar. "How did you get this scar?"

He had to think about that one because it wasn't one of the many scars he got when he grew up. "Bar fight,"

She laughed. "Really?"

"One of the first missions I had with Gibbs. We were in a bar waiting for a contact in Moscow. One thing leads to another and before we knew it a fight broke out and the man who started the fight was in front of me. The Bartender who I later found out was our contact, went to punch him and he ducked hitting me in the chin with her green jade flower ring."

"Her?"

"Natasha Petrov she was a freelance agent. Great agent except for the fact that her ass always needed saving."

"And you two didn't mind saving it because it was a cute ass," she said jokingly but her could tell by the tone of her voice that there was a little jealousy there also.

He thought about it. "Yeah, but not as cute as yours," He kissed her.

"Yeah right," She said, now sounding annoyed and tried to get up. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. "I'm not joking," wrapping his arm around her waist so she couldn't leave. He looked into her eyes and she believed him. "Besides you don't need to have that cute ass to get saved you proved that to Sam and I the other night."

"But what if it does need saving someday? Will you be there?"

"I will."

"Good," She kissed him, got up, and picked up his shirt off the chair.

"Where are you going?"

"I want to look at some music and go over the plans for tomorrow."

He sat up, "We're going of the plans with Sam tomorrow afternoon, you have time."

"I know but I need to figure out what to sing, it will only take a minute. I was also thinking that maybe we should go to the office to go over the plans. I would like to talk to Hetty tomorrow about the case."

He sat up, "About what?" He asked. She wouldn't look at him as she buttoned the shirt up. "Sarah, about what?"

She closed her eyes, "To take you off the case."

"Why?"

"I need to protect you," She said quietly.

"I can protect myself,"

"From _him_." She stressed.

"I have been against worst,"

She got up, "I know. It's just…I can't-"

He grabbed her arm, "Can't what Sarah?"

She pulled her arm away from him, "I'm not let that bastard hurt another person that I love!" She said and walked out of the bedroom. He sat there wondering how long it would take her to realize what she just said.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Stubborn jackass!" She mumbled as she walked outside. "Doesn't he realize I'm just protecting him?" She started to pace. "Idiot doesn't even realize that I love the…" She stopped "oh crap," she put her hand over her eyes when realized what she said to him. Now she was wondering if he would be there when she got back in. There was a connection between them. He was the first person she had cared about in a very long time.

The door opened, "Aren't you cold?" He asked her walking outside.

"Freezing," She said.

He put her robe over her shoulders and kissed her cheek, "A couple of years before I started working for Hetty I was asked to be a handler for an agent. There was a mission that they were perfect for. After looking into it I advised my superiors that they should not be alone on that mission. I was told I was overreacting from everyone including the agent and I was told to let them go. She didn't come back."

She looked down at her feet, "I'm sorry,"

"I'm not Sullivan."

She turned to him, "I'm not her. Reardon killed April because she knew me Callen. He has seen you there. There is a pretty good chance he knows you and Sam were there the other night. If he sees you tomorrow night I-I just…"

He took her hand, "I understand why you do not want me there with what Reardon did. I'm not happy about you not wanting me there but I do understand. I would be asking the same thing of you if I was in the same situation."

"Nothing will happen. I pr-"

"Don't. Just don't."

"She did,"

He nodded. "I'll be in ops and when everything is over we'll meet at the boathouse okay?"

"Okay,"

"I'll go email Hetty and tell that I want to meet with her while you and Sam work on the plan."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute."

"I love you too," he whispered in her ear and went back into the house.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~


	16. Chapter 12

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Heart beats fast

Colors and promises

How to be brave

How can I love when I'm afraid to fall

But watching you stand alone

All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow

One step closer

[Chorus:]

I have died everyday waiting for you

Darling don't be afraid I have loved you

For a thousand years

I'll love you for a thousand more

Time stands still

Beauty in all she is

I will be brave

I will not let anything take away

What's standing in front of me

Every breath

Every hour has come to this

One step closer

"A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Chapter 12**

Hetty Lange looked at the time as she sat at the table with the scrabble board in front of her. The morning had not been going as planned. After a restless night's sleep, with dreams of the past, of friends long gone; she got an email from Callen, wanting to meet with her, to talk about Sarah.

She tried to hide her reaction when she met with him, and he told her that he was taking himself off the case willingly. He wasn't going to stop Sarah from doing this mission. He was in love with her, and she asked him to do this, to protect him. This news did not stop the feeling of dread that she had about tonight. Callen was right, the plan was not good, but she learned, a long time ago, to trust Sarah's instinct, and let her do the job. She just prayed that Sarah was right about this.

"You still have this?" Leroy Jethro Gibbs asked, as he sat down next to her, snapping out of her daydreaming.

"Yes. It's still my favorite gift from you," she started placing the letters down in the middle of the board.

They played the game when they were out in public, to talk about business. They never kept score….much. He looked at the first word that she placed on the board.

Любовь (**Love**)

The waitress came over, "Coffee please," he told her, and wished he could order something stronger. He picked some of the tiles out of the lid and placed them down on the board.

Прошлые (**Past**)

"How bad is it?" He asked.

неприятности (**Trouble**)

"What did she tell you when you talked to her?" she asked.

"Everything as far as I know," He said.

Секреты (**Secrets**), Hetty laid the new word down.

"Then it's as bad as you thought," She said, "I'm glad that you both have been there over the years."

"I would have never have known her if it wasn't for Bill,"

"Do you agree with this plan?" she asked.

правила (**Rules**), Gibbs methodically laid one tile after the other.

"Having her as bait? No. It's dangerous and it could backfire on her. But, like you I trust her instincts. I'm here because I got a bad vibe. You know her rule of not ignoring the bad vibes." He looked for some tiles in the box, "You also know that I have a rule when it comes to her,"

"What rule is that?"

"Never try and stop a red head, because she's going to do it anyway."

Hetty smiled, "Stubborn, like her parents,"

"And her Godmother has a big influence on her too you know,"

She sighed, "Did she tell you how close Sullivan and her were?"

He nodded, "Are you surprised?"

Счастливой (**Happy**), the tiles Hetty placed clicked on the board.

"No, but I am surprised that you both hid from me." She looked at him with hurt in her eyes.

Сломанной (**Broken**), using one hand he produced each, like a magician, from his palm.

"She asked me not to. It was doomed when he took over," He said knowing that was not what she meant, "She begged me not to tell you about her and Sullivan," He admitted.

"She hid everything from me and made me actually make a deal for me to stay while that idiot got no blame at all,"

Прощение (**Forgiveness**), these were laid softly, and with some regret.

"That idiot is rising in the ranks, Hetty. If she wasn't with Sullivan you know she would have been with Callen sooner. That was your plan all along."

Ошибки (**Mistakes**), his eyes remained on her face as he spelled the word.

"They were going to leave the agency," Hetty told him.

"She would have missed it,"

Hetty smiled remembering seeing the only picture that she saw of Sarah and Daniel together, "No she wouldn't."

"Where is she now?" Gibbs asked.

Сейф (**Safe**), her shoulders slumped ever so slightly.

"He talked to me today,"

"To stop her?" Picking up a couple of tiles.

"He's no longer on the case,"

любовь (**Love**), she waited for him to see her error.

Gibbs looked at the board, "You already have that word," He pointed out to her.

"That how he feels about her,"

"And this one?" he asked pointing out the first word she had on the board.

"She said it first, told him that she was going to talk to me about taking him off the case." She took out the envelope, "Plans are in here with everything you need to have," She put the key on the table,

"Everything you need in storage," Hetty picked up her phone as it vibrated. "Bugger," she said looking at the message.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked picking up the keys.

"Sam just got back to the office, he wanted me to know that Sarah told him that she wanted to this happened with Reardon no matter what happens to her," She put her phone away and switched out the tiles.

"Alright," He took the envelope and placed it in his coat pocket. "What is it?"

She picked up the tiles knowing that if she was asked to do this she would not be able to keep that promise, Жива (**Alive**)

Gibbs looked at it the word and sighed, "I'll do my best," Gibbs said as he walked away.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Later that day Sarah sat as Hetty put in the long hair pin in her hair. "You're very quiet tonight." Hetty said knowing that this was her usual routine before performing.

"I have a lot on my mind."

"You know you can always talk to me if you want,"

Sarah turned to her, "As my Godmother or my Boss?"

"Godmother,"

"I'm scared." Sarah finally admitted.

Hetty stood there for a moment and then turned to look for another long hairpin, "Do you remember one of your first missions with Gibbs in London?" Hetty asked.

"He was getting information about some weapons and nearly got made at a poker game."

"What did you do?"

"Before the singer got back onstage I gave her all the money I had and told her to take a walk around the block. I asked her what the manager's favorite song was and sang for him."

"You made the manager think that he was the only one in the room. Gibbs got out safe."

"We barely had money to get back to the safe house." Sarah smiled, remembering Gibbs getting angry with her for what she did but thanking her when they got back to the hotel.

Hetty placed the second long hairpin in her hair, "But you got him out. You did what some agents who just started could not do and that is you think on your feet. You were more nervous back then compared to now. You can do this." She looked at her in the mirror. "Perfect." Hetty smiled.

She stood up, "So this is it,"

"Think of it as role not a mission,"

She nodded, "Just a role,"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah watched Callen pace in the bullpen. "You're going to wear grove in the tile," She said walking in and placing the earwig box in her purse.

"Nervous?" Callen asked her.

"A little," She lied.

"Break a leg,"

"Is that for performing or for Reardon?" She joked.

He smiled, "Performing. Kick Reardon's ass so Sam can arrest him."

"So I get to do all the work again," She teased.

"He doesn't want you to take all the credit," He saw her beginning to relax a little, "Meet at the boathouse after,"

She nodded as she picked up her purse. "I wish we were there now."

"I know." He kissed her. "I'll be watching,"

"You better, the song I'm singing is for you,"

"I'm honored," He kissed her again.

She heard her phone beep and knew that it was Kensi texting her to get moving. "I love you," she looked at him trying not to panic.

"Love you too." He said slowly letting her go.

She turned and quickly walked out of the bullpen.

"Agent Burgess," Hetty said, standing at the top of the stairs.

Sarah stopped and looked up at Hetty, "Yes ma'am,"

"Think on your feet," she said.

Sarah smiled, "Will do," and rushed out the door.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

When they walked into the bar, Sarah noticed people in the room turn and look at her. She did a quick look around the room seeing Deeks in the far right corner. Then she spotted Reardon walk out of the kitchen with an empty bin. He hadn't changed much since she saw him over ten years ago. She could still kick herself for not knowing that he was there.

"Earth to Sarah," Kensi said.

Sarah snapped out of her daze, "Sorry. I just…."

"You can do this," Nell said putting her hand on her shoulder for support.

"Table is right over here," she said leading the way.

"Hey Hun, I'm so sorry to hear about April," Sue said putting her arm around Sarah.

"I found out when I got back in town," She said, "I can't believe it,"

"Well with everything going on Management has a reward for any information about what happened. If you need anything you let us know,"

"I will," She told her, then she saw Reardon out of the corner of her eye putting glasses in the bin and nearly dropping the bin when he saw her there. She sat down, "He knows I'm here," She said.

"Good," Hetty said. "Let's hope he takes the bait. Whenever you're ready to do this Agent Burgess,"

"Copy that,"

"Here," Nell handed her a drink.

"I didn't order this,"

"I know, Hetty did, drink."

Sarah took the drink and knew right away what it was, "Rusty Nail?"

Nell nodded, "Hetty's favorite."

"When are you going on?" Kensi asked

Sarah sighed and took the shot, feeling the burning go down her throat. "Now," She said and put the glass down. Sarah grabbed Kensi's hand, placed something in it and closed it. "Hang on to this," She said, then got up and walked away.

"What?" Kensi opened her hand to find Sarah's earwig. "Oh crap."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen, Hetty, Nate, and Eric watched the screen as Sarah got up and walked over to and walked to the DJ. "She's not ready," Callen said quietly.

"How do you know?" Hetty asked thinking the same thing.

"She's different when she sings."

"You can tell just by her walking?" Nate asked.

"It's like she's already in character and as quickly as she can do it she's back to herself within seconds,"

"Let's give her a minute to get ready. Remember a lot has happened since last Thursday," She reminded them.

Sarah walked up the stairs and stood on the stage. A couple of people clapped in support of her and she smiled. The piano music started. She looked around the room and then looked in the direction of where Callen would have been.

"I should be there." He saw her reaction as she tried to look away from the bar and looked at the words come up on the screen.

"Heart…." She barely sang.

"She's not ready for this,"

"Give her time," Hetty said.

"She's scared." Nate said wondering if they all made the wrong decision to let her do this.

"I have watched her sing on of the most important and hardest days of her life; I know she can do this." Hetty said standing up.

"Brave," Sarah's voice cracked and the look of panic was now beginning to show.

"Come on Sarah, pull it together," Hetty said quietly.

Sarah closed her eyes, "Stop the music." She took a couple of deep breaths and opened her eyes when the music stopped, "I changed my mind."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~


	17. Chapter 13

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

There are two songs for this Chapter. The first one is for the **flashback** that is at the beginning of the story.

This flashback in the beginning of the story is of our bad guy in the story Gabriel Reardon. The past couple of weeks he's been a thorn in my side and in order to shut up his annoying voice in my head I gave him a little bit of the spotlight.

There is one more chapter and an epilogue and then this is story is finally over.

As usual I don't own NCIS/NCIS: LA or their characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. Sarah is mine.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

_'On the edge of sleep, I heard voices behind the door_  
_The known and the nameless, familiar and faceless_  
_My angels and my demons at war'_

_At war..._

_'Which one will lose depends on what I choose_  
_Or maybe which voice I ignore...'_

_Wilderness of mirrors_  
_Streets of cold desire_  
_My precious sense of honor_  
_Just a shield of rusty wire_  
_I hold against the chaos_  
_And the cross of holy fire_

_Wilderness of mirrors_  
_So easy to deceive_  
_My precious sense of rightness_  
_Is sometimes so naive_  
_So that which I imagine_  
_Is that which I believe_

_'On the edge of sleep, I awoke to a sun so bright_  
_Rested and fearless, cheered by your nearness_  
_I knew which direction was right'_

_Was right..._

_'The case had been tried by the jury inside_  
_The choice between darkness and light..._  
_The choice between darkness and light'_

**"Double Agent" By Rush**

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**FLASHBACK: November 1999 **

_Gabriel Reardon, felt the rain starting to fall again as he followed Malcolm Tallridge into the woods. Half way to the camp they heard the gunshot go off. Gabriel stopped in his tracks. Tallridge turned and looked at him, "Come on Gabriel,"_

_He couldn't move._

"_Come on son, we need to pack up and go. I'm pretty sure the feds will be on their way if they don't hear from one them soon,"_

_Gabriel nodded and began walking slowly behind him._

"_You did the right thing in telling us," Tallridge assured him._

"_I believed them." Gabriel told him, "I believed everything that they said to me," He was trying to figure out who he was more pissed at. Smith for having him that he was one of them for almost a year, Becca who acted like she gave a shit, or himself for believing in both of them? He put his hands in his pockets of his coat and felt the case of the cassette tape that Becca gave him the day before for his Birthday. She told him that she was in a record store and knew he liked the band Rush and hoped he didn't have the cassette album that she gave him. He wondered now if that was a lie._

"_We all did. They betrayed all of us Gabriel and they needed to be punished."_

_Gabriel stopped again, "There was only one shot," He said._

_ "Maybe Smith died." Tallridge said._

_He looked back at the trail; "No, there is something wrong,"_

_Tallridge took out his gun and handed it to him. "Take care of it then,"_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"You have been loyal to our cause Gabriel. Time for you to have some responsibilities now, take care of both of them then come back," He turned and went back to camp._

_~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~_

_ When he reached the scene he saw that Roberts was down. Gabriel bent down to check on him and saw the gunshot wound in his head._

_"He's dead kid," Sullivan said weakly on the ground._

"_You killed him? He asked._

"_No, she did," Sullivan said almost proud. Taunting him._

_He looked around, "Where is she?" He asked._

_ "Away from you," Sullivan told him._

_"I'll find her." He said with confidence._

_Sullivan smiled, "No you won't,"_

_"You think she is that good?" Gabriel asked already knowing the answer. _

"_I know she is." He said, "Fooled all of you the minute she got out of that car three weeks ago," He then saw the gun in Gabriel's hand, "If you're going to kill me kid, stop wasting time and just do it," Sullivan looked up at him, daring him to do it and praying that he gave Sarah enough time to get the hell away from there and if she wasn't then she would know to keep on going and not look back. _

_Gabriel pointed the gun to Sullivan's head, "I will make her suffer." The gun went off; he closed his eyes and lowered the gun. He just killed the man that he looked up to for almost a year._

_He aimed the gun in the direction of the trees hearing a noise. He prayed that it was her coming back. "Gabriel!"_ _John Bordinay, said coming out of the woods, __"Tallridge__ wants us out now,"_

_Gabriel looked at the woods knowing that she was gone, "Another time Becca,"_

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

_Won't you tell him please_  
_To put on some speed_  
_Follow my lead_  
_Oh how I need_  
_Someone to watch over me._

_"Someone to Watch Over Me" Sung by Ella Fitzgerald_

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Chapter 13**

They all watched Sarah walk off the stage, "Changed her mind? What does she mean she changed her mind?" Callen asked.

"Agent Burgess is there something wrong?" Hetty asked and got no response or signals from her. "Sarah, what is going on?" she asked with still no response. "Why can't she hear me?" Hetty asked Eric.

"Everything is working I don't know." Eric started frantically checking all readings.

"She left her earwig here Hetty," Kensi finally said.

"Damn it Sarah!" He watched as she walked down the stairs, "Deeks, where are you?" Callen asked, knowing he was breaking his promise to Sarah by being silent.

"Close by," Deeks said, putting the bin down and started wiping down the table.

Sarah walked over to the DJ and started talking to him.

"Does she seem like she is in distress?" Sam asked from outside.

"She seems fine." Nate said, reading her body language. "She's not in distress at all,"

"Then why has she changed the plans?" Callen asked.

"Need to know if I need to get her," Deeks told them looking over his shoulder seeing Reardon walking out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"That does it," Callen went towards the door. He gave her the chance and now she was going on her own. She knew how he felt about this. He was not going to have this happen to him again.

Hetty watched Sarah nod at the DJ and smile, "G wait." Hetty yelled before he was out the door.

He turned and looked at Hetty stunned that she actually called him 'G' then looked at the screen. Sarah was walking up the stairs to the stage smiling, in character, and back to her old self.

"Sorry, but it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind, even in Karaoke," She nodded at the DJ to start the music.

"There's a saying old, says that love is blind. Still we're often told, 'seek and ye shall find' so I'm going to seek a certain lad I've had in mind,"

Hetty sat down trying to hide the smile on her face knowing that Sarah did get the clue that she told her.

"Looking everywhere, haven't found him yet, he's a big affair I cannot forget. Only man I ever think of with regret,"

Callen slowly walked over by Hetty watching Sarah amazed how she could make him feel like he was there.

"I'd like to add his initial to my monogram, tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb?" She batted her eyes and looked innocent.

She took a deep breath, "There's a somebody I'm longin' to see, I hope that he, turns out to be. Someone who'll watch over me," She looked around the audience, "I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood, I know I could, always be good," Her she smiled innocently "To one who'll watch over me,"

"Although he may not be the man some girls think of as handsome," She put her hand on her heart, "To my heart he carries the key,"

She put her hand down slowly, "Won't you tell him please to put on some speed," She looked directly at the hidden camera above the bar, "Follow my lead," closed her eyes and felt her shoulders fell down in relief, "Oh how I need," She opened her eyes content and ready for whatever was going to happen to her. "Someone to watch over me,"

She heard the applause even before she was done singing the last note. She smiled and walked across the stage.

"Wow" Deeks said.

"Yeah," Kensi said wiping a tear from her face.

"You better have recorded that Eric I want to see it when I get back," Sam said.

"It-it was," Eric said checking again.

Sarah walked down the stairs to her table. They watched her as she sat down, hug Kensi and discreetly put the earwig back in her ear and turned it on.

"Very good Agent Burgess," Hetty said, standing up, "You have thirty minutes," Sarah did her signature sign of acknowledgement by putting a strand of hair behind her left ear.

"Oh and when you get back we are going to have a very long talk about the importance of having your earwig in your ear at _all_ times."

Sarah looked down at the table, smiled, and did the signal again to Hetty.

Hetty walked towards the door, "Mr. Callen, my office please,"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen walked into her office, "Hetty I know I shouldn't have interrupted and gotten involved but she-"

Hetty held out his badge and car keys, "Go get your girl," she told him.

"But she wants me to stay here,"

"I know. Sam has your gear, just stay with him and keep out of it sight." She said sure that everything was going to be alright. "Go now before I change my mind."

He took them from her and was out the door by the time she sat down in her chair.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Twenty minutes later Sam saw G walking down the sidewalk. "About time you got here. How did you escape?" Sam asked.

"Hetty told me to go,"

"You're kidding."

"She told me that you would have my gear,"

He handed G the vest, "Don't do anything stupid."

"Is everyone ready?" Sam heard Sarah ask.

"Whenever you are Sarah," Sam said looking at G.

"Deeks and Kensi, B flat,"

"On it," Deeks said, putting glasses into the bin.

"Time to sing," Kensi said, getting up and touching Sarah's shoulder before walking away.

As Kensi weaved around the tables, Deeks slammed right into her having the bin spill all over her and crashing to the ground.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" She screamed.

"I'm so sorry," Deeks said trying to pick up everything.

Everyone's attention went to them as Kensi caused a scene. Other busboys came over to help out Deeks as Kensi screamed at him.

"Sarah you're clear," Nell said, still by the bar.

Sarah looked around the room again making sure it was clear, got up, and walked away.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"I'm out," Sarah walked out the front door of the bar, "Sam?"

"I see you." He told her.

"Reardon is on his way out." Nell said.

Sarah closed her eyes, "Copy that,"

Sam watched as Reardon walked out the front door and run to her, "Okay Sarah you're on."

"Wait up." Reardon yelled behind her.

She stopped and felt her blood go cold. "Just a role." she whispered and turned around. "Yes?"

He slowed down as he got closer to her, "I would like to walk you to your car."

"It's okay it's just over there," She told him walking slowly to the car that was now less than ten feet away from them.

"I was asked by management because of what happened the other night to you and...well your friend April."

"Oh." she said surprised. "Okay," She smiled and hoped it didn't look forced, "Thank you,"

"You're welcome," He said giving her that sweet smile that she remembered.

"It's just over here," she pointed to the black Chevy Traverse and getting her keys out of her purse.

They walked in silence the last couple of feet to the car. "Thanks again," she said smiling as she was at the door. As she turned placed in the key in the door he slammed her up against the door hard and then turned to make her face him. She winced as she tried to move and he slammed her back up against the car. Her head started to throb as he was inches away from her face, "You don't remember me do you Sarah? Or should I call you Becca?" He pulled her to him, his right arm around her waist, his left hand on her jaw ready to break her neck. "I told him that I would find you," He leaned in close to her ear. "I told him I would make you suffer," He whispered.

"No." She elbowed him in the stomach, stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the face to break free. He fell to the ground, "I do remember you Gabriel. I remember a confused kid that we were both willing to help,"

"I didn't want your help," He said, "Now I just want you dead,"

As she turned he grabbed her ankle and she fell on the ground. He got up and pulled her to him. With her free leg she kicked him in the chest.

"I forgot, you fight back,"

"Damn right I do!" she tried to hit him again with her foot and he blocked it. He grabbed her as she tried to get away and pulled her back she heard her blouse ripping and the concrete scratch her back.

He pulled both of her legs down and got on top of her. Sarah started to struggle. "G" she whispered.

"Sam?" Callen looked at him.

"Not the code." Sam said, looking through the scope. There was no way to get the shot if needed without getting closer.

He put his hands on her throat, "G" She whispered again as he pushed down on her windpipe.

"Mr. Hanna!" Hetty yelled.

"Not the code Hetty!" He said again waiting for her to say it.

"Are you just going to sit here and wait?"

"I'm waiting for her signal G, I promised I would do that."

Sarah grabbed one of the long hairpins from her hair and in one swift motion jabbed it into his arm. Reardon screamed and let go of her.

Sarah pushed him off of her, crawling backwards to get away from him.

"G sharp," She said, watching as he got up, pull the pin that nearly went through his arm out pulled it out and toss it aside.

"Bitch," he glared at her.

"G sharp." She said again.

He walked towards her.

Sarah hit her head up against the wall of the building. She grabbed the second hairpin out of her hair. She wasn't going down without a fight. '_Time for plan B_' She thought.

Reardon smiled knowing that she couldn't go anywhere.

"Sullivan," She whispered.

Sam aimed to shoot Reardon in the leg and heard a shot fired above him.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

7


	18. Chapter 14 and Epilogue

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Well this is it Chapter 14 and the Epilogue. I cannot believe that it's finally over.

Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts.

A very HUGE Thanks my partner in crime, editor, friend, Anthrdumblond who kept on telling me "No this does NOT suck!", "What are you trying to do here?", "Yes I'm sure it's ready to go out," and the ever popular "Focus!" I really don't think this story would have developed the way it did without you.

Thanks to my hubby if he has been reading (he does not know I've been doing this) if you are reading honey I love you and thanks for understanding (to a point) for my love ("obsession" as he puts it) of NCIS:LA/NCIS

There is another story that I have been working on off and on (when my editor is not yelling at me to "FOCUS!") Depending on how a family situation is going on that story will start up March 2013.

Happy reading...

With Love,

Katie'sMom

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**The flashback that I have is of Gibbs. It's a continuation of what happened in the flashback "Off I go" (Chapter 6).**

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Chapter 14**

"Sullivan," Sarah whispered, closed her eyes, and heard the gunshot ring out.

"Shots fired!" Sam said and watched Reardon stand there for a moment stunned and then fall down, "Reardon is down!"

"Detective Deeks, Agent Blye, get out there now!" Hetty said. Within seconds they saw Deeks go out the kitchen entrance and Kensi go out the front, guns drawn.

"You check on Sarah, I'll see who is upstairs," Sam opened the duffle by the wheel of the car and handed Callen his gun then went into the building.

"Clear," Deeks yelled.

"Clear," Kensi yelled.

"Clear," Callen said crossing the street looking at Sarah still up against the wall.

"Eric, I need an ambulance over here now," Deeks said letting Callen get to Sarah first.

"They are on the way." Eric told him.

Sarah was looking at Reardon still gripping the hairpin in her hand; she looked up to see Callen there, "You don't listen to directions very well."

Callen kneeled beside her, "You don't either," He put his hand on her shoulder, "You did a great job, Babe," He kissed her forehead. He watched Kensi as she checked Reardon, "Kensi?"

"Single gunshot wound to the head." She told him.

"Who shot him?" Deeks asked.

"Gibbs," Sarah whispered.

"G Sharp." He realized it was her code for him, "Sam, Gibbs is on the roof."

"Copy that," They heard Sam say on the top floor before the entrance of the roof.

Callen picked her up, "Let's get you checked out," as the ambulance pulled up.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sam opened the door to the roof to see Gibbs standing there with his hands raised over his head. Sam lowered his weapon, "Put your hands down you're getting a metal not arrested."

"How are you Sam?" Gibbs asked, lowering his arms.

"Good. Why are you in Los Angeles?" Sam walked over to the sniper rifle already packed in its case.

"I decided to take a vacation." Gibbs said walking over to edge of the roof to make sure Sarah was okay.

"You didn't bother to tell anyone of your plan?" Sam asked slightly annoyed.

"Hetty knew."

Sam smiled, "Hetty knows everything, why not tell us?"

"That would spoil the surprise." Gibbs smiled.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"I am fine!" Sarah said, trying to get up from the gurney again.

"We just want to make sure," The paramedic told her.

"I don't need to go to a hospital." She protested.

"Is she always this difficult?" The paramedic asked Callen.

"She's a redhead," Gibbs said walking up with Sam, "Stubborn as hell and once she makes up her mind about something nothing can stop her."

Sarah got up slowly and hugged him, "I'm so glad you're here," She whispered.

"You did great, they would be proud," he whispered.

"Thanks," She smiled.

"You're still going to the hospital," He helped her sit back down on the gurney.

"Gibbs, I'm fine." She said.

He touched one of her ribs and she yelped. "Possible cracked ribs; you are going, Agent Burgess. That is an order."

"Fine." She said finally giving up. "But Agent Callen goes with me,"

The paramedic, glad that she finally gave in, nodded, "He'll be in the front seat,"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Hetty sat in the waiting room, patiently for news about Sarah. The entire team was there and dealing with the long wait in their own way. Deeks tried to break the tension by teasing Kensi about eating _another _candy bar.

Nell was whispering to Eric about some medical information she had read a couple of months ago, which had Eric worrying and asking about every possibility of what could go wrong because it was taking so long.

Hetty looked at Nate who was standing up against the wall watching everyone.

"Will you two shut up she's going to be fine!" Sam finally said.

"But what if-"

"She will be fine Mr. Beal." Hetty said. "These things take time," She said putting her hand on Sam's giving him the indication that he did not need to be annoyed. She watched Callen pacing the hallway looking worried. He had been there with her in the room and was told when she went in for tests that he could not be there. Gibbs stood at the doorway as if he was on guard. She watched as his phone went off and he ignored the call. He wanted to make sure Sarah was going to be alright before he let his team and Director Vance know.

"Sorry," Eric and Nell said at the same time.

Hetty closed her eyes and rubbed her temples trying to decide if she should laugh or cry at what was going on. Sarah was right, for someone who didn't have kids she sure did have a lot of them and even though they were driving each other crazy she was glad that they were all there with her tonight.

The doors opened, "Miss Lange?" Dr. Susan DePaul asked, seeing the large group waiting.

Hetty stood up, "Yes."

"Your goddaughter has a slight concussion, a couple of cracked ribs and is banged up pretty good. She'll be fine but she's going to be very sore tomorrow. I want to keep her overnight for observation. I have given her some medicine to help her rest and for when the pain kicks in."

"Thank you."

"I'm assuming there will be security for her?" Dr. DePaul looked at the team basically surround Hetty.

"Yes, some agents and some members of LAPD will be here,"

"I will notify my staff."

"When can we see her?" Callen asked.

"She has been asking for you Agent Callen, you can go in there now." She told him.

He looked at Hetty for approval she nodded and he went to Sarah's room.

"I'll take first shift," Sam told Hetty following Callen to Sarah's room.

Hetty turned to the rest of the team, "You all need to go home and get some rest."

"She's part of the team, Hetty." Deeks said.

"There will be plenty of people here watching over her tonight. Go home, get some sleep and come back tomorrow,"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The next morning Sarah woke up to see Hetty sleeping on the couch, an empty chair with Gibbs glasses on the tray table on the left side of her bed, and Callen sleeping in the chair next to her bed holding her hand on the right side of her bed.

The door to her room opened slowly, "Yeah? Well you can kiss my ass," She heard Gibbs mumble as he walked into the room.

"You still have a way with people Gibbs," She told him, still groggy.

He was surprised to see her awake, "I went out to get coffee and they did a shift change. Now they are asking for a blood sample for me to get in." He said sitting down and putting the newspaper on the nightstand.

"If they didn't you would be head slapping them." She tried to sit up in bed.

He thought about it, "True. So how are you Red?" He asked.

"I feel like I've been run over by a truck. Have all of you been here all night?" She asked.

He nodded, "He hasn't moved since he was able to get in here."

She looked at Callen's hand holding hers, "I don't remember what happened after I got done with the tests."

"You had some pretty good drugs,"

She closed her eyes, "Please tell me I didn't say anything embarrassing."

"DiNozzo called to make sure you were okay. You called him 'googlie bear'. Callen is secretly planning his death." Gibbs said smiling.

"Crap," She tried to laugh and she felt pain shoot through her ribs.

"I told Callen about that little game that you and DiNozzo think you have to play every time we are out doing missions and I assured him that if Tony got closer than just than calling you 'Love bug' he wouldn't have to worry about killing him because I would."

"Thanks," She said watching Callen sleeping in the chair.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked knowing the answer already.

She nodded. "I never felt like this Jethro. Not even with..."

"I know." He sighed. "When he wakes up tell him Lou's at noon," He got up, put his glasses in his pocket, picked up his paper and coffee.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go and get something. Lou's at noon." He said walking out.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

_**May 2011 (After Sarah gets the news that Hetty has gone off grid *SEE**_  
_**Off I Go Flashback*Chapter 6)**_

_Gibbs walked up the stairs of the front porch of his house and saw the package there on the doormat, "Crap," he said knowing that this could end up bad. "Hetty what in the hell do you think you are doing?" He said picking it up and walking into the house and tossing his keys on the entry table._

_He cut through the living room, past the kitchen and went down stairs into the basement. Gibbs placed the box on the table and looked at it not wanting to know what was in it. All he knew was it was personal items that Hetty would want him to have if anything happened to her. He emptied out a jar of screws, cleaned it out with his shirt, and poured the whiskey in the bell jar. Gibbs downed it in one gulp and looked at the box. "Damn it Hetty," he said taking out his knife and opening up the box. There were pictures of Gibbs and Sarah, of Shannon and Kelly that must have been taken while he was at Desert Storm because he never saw them before, the knife that he gave to Hetty when he told her his rule, a sealed file labeled 'Callen/Comescu', and there was a small box with a note attached._

_He opened the note: "Jethro- If Sarah ever finds someone that she wants to spend the rest of her life (and passes your standards), please give him this...and wish him the best of luck! I know Bill would want her to have this." He opened the box to find an emerald ring._

_"Crap." Gibbs whispered and heard the front door slam._

_"Jethro?" Tobias Fornell yelled from upstairs._

_"Down here!" He said taking the ring box and putting it in a drawer._

_"I got the message from McGee. Want to tell me what is so important that you get me out of work?" He walked down the stairs._

_Gibbs put everything back in the box, got out another glass, and poured whiskey into it, "Drink this." He told him handing him the glass._

_Fornell looked at the glass and then looked at Gibbs suspicious, "Who died?" He knew that something bad was happening by the tone of McGee's voice when he got the call telling him that Gibbs needed to meet with him and he was not going to take no for an answer._

_"Just drink it."_

_He drank it and put the glass on the table, "Who died?" Fornell asked again._

_"I got this today." He showed him the box. Fornell looked at the handwriting, took the bottle and poured another._

_"Comescu's?" He said knowing the handwriting._

_"Yeah. Hetty went off grid two days ago."_

_"Does Callen know?" Fornell asked._

_"Vance got into Los Angeles this morning and is trying to keep him from going after her."_

_Fornell laughed. "This is Callen we are talking about." Then his facial expression changed dramatically "Where is Sarah?"_

_"Safe, she was supposed to leave today." Gibbs said opening up the box and looking at the pictures again. "I was able to stop her from leaving,"_

_Fornell looked at the picture of Sarah and his daughter Emily taken at a birthday party a couple of years ago, "Damn it. This is bad."_

_"I know."_

_"What do we do Gibbs?" He asked._

_"Wait."_

_Fornell looked at Gibbs like he was insane, "Wait? That's it? Wait?"_

_"Believe me, I want to go after her, but I can't leave Sarah here. If I leave to get Hetty without Sarah, she will never forgive me." Gibbs took another sip of his drink._  
_Both men nearly jumped when the phone rang, "Yes, Leon." He listened and walked over to grab the bottle. He poured the liquid into the glasses._

_"Shit." Fornell said._

_"You let them go? What about her?" He paused and then sighed. "Okay keep me updated," and slammed his phone shut._

_"What's going on?" Fornell asked._

_"Against Vance's orders Callen and the rest of the team are on their way to_  
_Romania. They left their badges with Vance."_

_Fornell sighed, "Are you sure you want to wait?"_

_"Lauren Hunter is on the way too,"_

_Fornell looked at him shocked. "Oh this is not good."_

_"No, it's not."_

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Callen walked into Lou's and saw Gibbs at the bar with a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. "Still building that boat in your basement?" He asked sitting next to him.

He shook his head no, "Working on a rocking chair for Mike Franks Granddaughter."

"How do you get the boats out of your basement?" Callen asked.

"Magic," He said smiling. "So how are you Callen?"

"Good, Sarah is driving the nurses' nuts. I'm expecting a call to get her out soon,"

Gibbs smiled, "What are your plans for my friends little girl?" He finally decided to ask.

"Hoping she'll spend the rest of her life with me."

"That's a big commitment, even for you."

"I know." Callen agreed. If someone would have told him a year ago that his life would change dramatically he would have laughed.

Gibbs reached into his coat pocket and put the small black velvet box on the bar, "Good Luck," Gibbs told him pouring Bourbon into his glass. He watched Callen opened the box and see the emerald ring, "It was her mothers. Hetty got it when Sarah's father was killed. When Hetty went off grid in May she sent me a box of things and this was in it. Told me that if Sarah found someone that passed my standards I was to give this to him,"

"And tell them good luck?"

Gibbs smiled, "You're going to need it."

"I know." He said smiling, "Thanks,"

"Make her happy,"

"That's my goal every day," He said putting it his jacket pocket.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Sarah smiled as Sam walked into her room, "Please tell me you are getting me out of here."

"It will be a couple more hours. I'm here to talk to you about your new assignment." He handed her the file.

"I had a feeling that was why Gibbs wanted Callen to meet with him," She said, taking the file. She opened it to see Callen's picture.

Sam sat down next to her, "I have been assigned to be your handler. You will still do missions with Gibbs and be listed as 'reserve' but your assignment is to protect G. We need you to let us know if he has any new memories, moods, sleep habits. Hetty has been watching over him since he was five. Over the years she has brought in a select few to watch over him,"

"When were you brought in?" She asked looking at a picture of Callen when he was a child.

"I have been his partner for almost five years. I found out what was going on when we were in Romania."

"He doesn't know about any of this does he?" She asked skimming over reports that had paragraphs blacked out "Will he ever know?" Sarah looked at the next page that had a picture of a woman's CIA badge labeled '_Clara Callen_'.

"Eventually," He said and stood up when someone knocked on the door. "There is another member of this team who wants to talk to you," Sam blocked Sarah's view when the door opened.

"Sorry I'm late," The woman said walking in and putting her bag down.

Sarah leaned back and was shocked to see Lauren Hunter in her room, "What is she doing here?"

"She's part of the group," Sam told her.

"Why?" She asked.

"She will explain,"

"I told you she would not take this well," Lauren said smiling.

Sam looked at Lauren, not happy that it took her walking into the room to set Sarah off, "She will,"

"The hell I will!" Sarah pulled the covers off of her and started taking the tape off her arm that held the IV.

"Sarah, stop."

"No. I'm not going to listen to anything that she has to say. She has nothing that I need to hear."

"Yes, she does." He put his hand on her arm to try and stop her from taking the IV out.

"I have been listening to her hatred for me since I was fourteen years old. I don't need to hear what she lies she has about Callen."

"Sarah, you need to hear her out please trust me,"

"Why Sam? What does she know about him that gives her the right to watch over Callen?" She asked.

He sighed and looked at Lauren who nodded approval to tell her. "Lauren is Callen's sister," He said quietly.

Sarah sat there stunned "You're lying," she said not wanting to believe him but knew by looking into his eyes that it was the truth. She turned to Lauren, "Prove it."

"One morning we were going to the beach, I remember my Mother had been stressed the past couple of days but that day it was different. She seemed happy. She told us that we were meeting a friend of hers. I was five and Callen was three. On the way there she changed the channel on the radio my favorite song came on." She smiled at the memory, "It drove him nuts. The song was-"

"Love will keep us together," Sarah said.

Lauren looked at her and then smiled, "How did you know?"

"I sang that song the night we met. He told me a couple of days ago that I triggered that memory."

"I can't believe he remembered." Lauren sat down in the chair stunned.

"He thinks you're dead." Sarah told Lauren angry now.

"I know." Lauren said closing her eyes.

"He _mourns _you. The little memories he has of you and you're alive?!"

"You think this isn't hard on me?" She asked quietly. "To not tell him who I am? To stand there in front of him when he tells Director Vance and his team that he doesn't have any family and all I want to do is say 'yes you do!' I have been watching him for _years _from a distance making sure that Comescu's do not find him. I finally got to see him when Hetty went off grid. Believe it or not this is hell for me Sarah."

"How do you think he is going to react when he finds out who you are?" Sarah asked both of them.

"He won't find out." Sam said.

Sarah laughed, "He will eventually Sam. He remembered his Mother being killed when he was on the beach in Romania. He remembered what happened that morning because of a song I sang. He _will _remember his past,"

"He'll have the same reaction that you are having right now." Lauren said quietly, "He won't believe me, he'll yell, accuse me of being a fake, tell me that he hates me for the way I had treated him when Hetty was gone, and he will walk away."

"But he'll forgive you," Sam said.

Lauren tried to smile, "Maybe, I just hope I'm still alive if that happens,"

"What do you mean _if_?"

"Lauren posed as a member of the Comescu family for three years. She was the one who killed the head of the family saving G's life." Sam said.

"The one who shot Hetty?"

Lauren nodded, "They want me dead."

"But they do not know who she really is,"

"What do I need to do?" Sarah asked.

Lauren handed Sarah a phone, "Call if you need help. The contacts are the people who  
have been watching over him over the years."

Sarah looked at the list and was shocked to see the names 'Lange, Gibbs, Vance, Fornell, Hanna. '911'

"You're 911?"

"Yes,"

Sam's phone went off he looked at the text "You have to go, G is on his way back,"

"Protect my baby brother Sarah," She said.

"I will," She said, watching Lauren walk out.

She leaned back on the bed, "I don't know if I can do this Sam,"

"Yes, you can," Sam put the tape back on her arm.

"Lie to him? That's not a very good way to start a life together."

"We're protecting him." He told her.

"Do you lie to protect Honey?" She asked.

"We do what we have to for family," He told her and waited at the door for Callen to arrive.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

An hour later Gibbs walked to Sarah's room. Sam sat in front of the door reading a book, "How is she?" Gibbs asked.

"The room is still in one piece and they are both still alive," Sam said slightly annoyed.  
"She told me she has been in the area for about two days. Seems Hetty called after the boathouse meeting."

"How did Sarah react to this news?" Gibbs asked.

Sam sighed, "Better than I thought she would." He had heard that the last time they met Sarah's cover was almost blown because of a fight they had in an elevator in Romania.

"Well she was following an order."

"But from what I understand they have said some pretty mean things over the years." Sam paused, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure,"

"Why did you hesitate last night?"

"What do you mean?" Gibbs leaned up against the wall.

"She said 'G sharp' twice, which is a code for you and you didn't take the shot. Why?"

"I didn't have a good angle," Gibbs told him.

Sam looked at him knowing that he was lying, "Did you shoot him for justice or revenge?" knowing how it felt to make that decision almost a year ago.

"I did it for a promise."

"A promise?"

"Two weeks before Sarah's father he was killed I was asked to protect his little girl no matter what. I broke that promise by leaving to go to Russia when she was in West Virginia. I'm making sure that I will never fail her again."

Sam looked at G and Sarah talking; "Now they can be happy,"

Gibbs nodded, "That's all that matters to me."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~  
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

_And I can't believe, that I'm your man,_  
_And I get to kiss you baby just because I can._  
_Whatever comes our way, we'll see it through,_  
_And you know that's what our love can do._

_"Everything" By Michael Buble_

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**Epilogue**

**Two Months Later...**

"And in this crazy life and through these crazy times it's you, it's you, you make me sing you're every line, you're every word, you're everything." Callen sang softly in his wife's ear as they both danced slowly in the boathouse.

"I can't believe we pulled this off," She said smiling, "I thought for sure we would have to go to Vegas,"

"Me too, I had a bag packed here just in case,"

"I have a bag in the car," She put her head down on his shoulder. "Sam would have been pissed." She looked at Sam who was keeping a watchful eye on his wife Honey across the room talking to Deeks.

"Sam would have beaten us there,"

She looked at Callen. "So not only is he a Navy Seal he also has Jedi mind reading abilities?"

"They get that when they graduate. Don't tell him I told you,"

"Secret is safe with me,"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Gibbs watched Callen and Sarah dancing slowly ignoring everyone in the room. He walked outside to see Hetty looking out into the ocean. "They grow up fast don't they?"

Hetty wiped a tear away from her face. "Yes."

He put his arm around her, "You have done a great job Hetty,"

"Now she's in danger," She said now worried.

"Well that can change, if you let him know what is going on."

"He's not ready," She protested. They had the same argument over the years and in the end it was Hetty's decision not the others to keep Callen's life a secret to protect him.

"You won't give him that chance! Tell him the truth."

"He's not ready for the truth Jethro, if Callen finds out who ordered to kill his Mother not even Sarah will be able to stop him." She made sure that none of that information was in the file that Sarah had.

"Rumor has it they have a new head of the family." He told her knowing that she already knew.

She nodded, "He has taken over," She said quietly. "I had a feeling he would after Alexia,"

"You know that when this fight starts they will not stop until one or both of them are dead," Gibbs said.

"We all need to be on alert now Gibbs." She told him as she looked at Callen and Sarah through the window. "I just want them to not worry and be happy for just one moment."

"Fine, just make sure that he doesn't find out himself."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Dracul Comescu watched Agent Callen dance slowly with his new bride without a care in the world through the scope of the sniper rifle. He had been in the area for about a week gathering information on him. One by one their friends left leaving them alone and unprotected. He felt his phone vibrate and he grabbed it while still watching the happy couple, "Da."

"I'm just checking on the status of your assignment." The man said.

"He got married." Dracul told him as he released the safety of the rifle waiting for the order.

There was a long silence, "That's great news." He said, "Now come home." He told him.

"But you said-"

"I know what I said Dracul. Let everyone who is protecting him think that they are safe for now."

Dracul felt the anger well up in him again. They killed his Aunt, three bodyguards and his younger brother, "I can do this now. You told me that I could-"

"You will, but I have a new plan, come home _now _Dracul." He ordered him.

"Fine!" he hung up and looked through the scope. He saw Agent Callen's new bride let him go, walk to the chair to grab a blue silk veil, and wrap it around her shoulders. He could end this today. He could take the shot right now and make Agent Callen feel the pain that he caused his family again with just a simple shot to her heart. But would it be worth disobeying an order? Could he take the risk in angering the new head of the family? He would be killed and it wouldn't matter if he was family or not.

His phone vibrated and he looked at the text "HOME. NOW!" Dracul sighed knowing that the new leader of the family was right. He put the rifle down, "Another time Agent Callen."

**To be continued...**

**March 2013**


End file.
